The paradox of documenting history through gruesome visuals depicting the prominence of stories intrigues media researchers. Foundational work on the dual representation theory explains trauma transference to brain functions following disturbing emotional triggers. The analysis suggests an existing link between exposure to disturbing information…

This research is based on 28 in-depth interviews with Kenya-based journalists who report terrorism. The objective of the research was to recount their lived experiences. The theme of safety of journalists comprised psychological and physical safety of the newspeople, and there were various ways in which the psychological and individual safety of…

Conducted in 2012 to 2013, the current national survey of Kenyan journalists (N = 504) examines major characteristics of journalism and mass communication training in Kenya. Findings show that training in journalism or mass communication is a prerequisite to practice as a journalist in Kenya. While 45% of journalists were trained at the level of…

Despite shrinking newsrooms, we have more journalism choices, in part because of freelance journalists. Freelancing creates workers who are particularly adaptive and creative; skills educators want to instill in students. I interviewed and surveyed more than 50 freelance journalists in several countries, including Turkey, Egypt, Colombia, Israel,…

Ethnicity in Kenya permeates all spheres of life. However, it is in politics that ethnicity is most visible. Election time in Kenya often leads to ethnic competition and hatred, often expressed through various media. Ethnic hate speech characterized the 2007 general elections in party rallies and through text messages, emails, posters and…

Our purpose in this paper is to foreground contextual issues in studies of situated writing practices. During a year-long case study in a rural Kenyan secondary school, we applied a number of ethnographic techniques to document how 32 girls (aged 14-18 years) used local cultural and digital resources (i.e., donated digital cameras, voice…

Millions of youths in developing countries are described by UNICEF as "invisible and excluded." They live at the margins of society, facing challenges to their daily existence, powerless to make positive changes. But the emergence of citizen journalism and digital storytelling may offer these youths a chance to share their voices and…

Argues that there should be a re-evaluation of the African press of pre-independence Kenya. (RB)

Kenya's dozen or more newspapers and 50 news sheets edited and published by Africans in the turbulent 1945-52 preindependence period were condemned as irresponsible, inflammatory, antiwhite, and seditious by the Kenya colonial government, and this characterization has been accepted by many scholars and journalists, including Africans. There is…

Notes that college students in Kenya recalled more radio news stories than did adult illiterates, tenth grade students, or adults with less than a college education and that comprehension was also lower for the illiterate adults. (Author/FL)

Using as an example the relations between the state and the mass media in Kenya in the 1960s and 1970s, this paper asserts that in regard to state/media relations, a theoretical middle course exists between the two most common perspectives, the structuralist-functionalists/chroniclers of history and the Marxists. The paper claims that this middle…