Authors: Obwogi Cliff Ooga 1 and Samuel Siringi 2
1 School of Journalism University of Nairobi
P.O Box 404-00208 Nairobi – Kenya
Email: cliffooga@gmail.com
2School of Journalism University of Nairobi
P.O Box 30197-00100, Nairobi – Kenya
Email: ssiringi@gmail.com
Abstract
War coverage has for a long time been challenging due to the unpredictable nature of wars. Specifically, reporting has been a challenge since the media relies on a lot on news given out by the combat forces. In the Kenyan scenario, the Kenya Defense Forces were engaging in a maiden international war. Similarly, the Kenyan media were engaging in their first international war coverage. As the only period that can demonstrate how are has been covered by the media, there is need for studies to be conducted on the role played by the media in covering these wars. Therefore, the principal objective of this study was to determine the role of media in covering peace operations in a case of Somalia otherwise dubbed ‘Operation Linda Nchi’. This study adopted a descriptive research design. The study used Code sheet Schema for data collection and eventual analysis. The study was confined to a content analysis of two leading newspapers in Kenya, the Daily Nation and The Standard. Key findings from the study indicated that the media relied a lot on news from Government agencies instead of residents and eyewitnesses accounts of the combat in Somalia. The study recommends the need for media houses to train and deploy independent journalists for the sole purpose of gathering news independent of the official Government sources. Further, the study also recommends the need to get facts from the ground of the operation and that much needs to be done in terms of training and equipping journalists to beef up war reporting.
Key Words: Media, Operation Linda Nchi, Kenya Defence Forces, Media role, Peace operation
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Suggested Citation
Ooga, C.,O and Siringi, S. (2020). The Role of Media in Covering Peace Operations: A Case of ‘Operation Linda Nchi’ in Somalia. African Research Journal of Education and Social Sciences, 7(1), 2020. Available online at http://arjess.org/social-sciences-research/the-role-of-media-in-covering-peace-operations-a-case-of-operation-linda-nchi-in-somalia.pdf
