Date of Award

2025

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA) in Digital Journalism​

First Advisor

Hesbon Hansen Owilla

Department

Graduate School of Media and Communications

Abstract

In Kenya, the electorate has always turned to the media for information and clarity, especially in political processes such as elections. This is more vital for the citizenry when they feel their democratic rights are being suppressed. This study was limited to the 2022 presidential election tallying process and gathered information from the relevant stakeholders involved, including the NMG, the IEBC, political coalitions, and media and communication scholars. As a case study, the research was also limited to the case of NMG and used a variety of sources of information through triangulation of both methods and sources. To this end, interviews were used to collect data. Experiences from past elections in Kenya have created a trust deficit between the people, the political leadership and the electoral body especially after election results are announced. Traditionally the role of tallying in elections has generally been left to the electoral body of the country. However, in some more developed democracies, the law allows media houses to call elections after conducting their tallying. There is no specific law on this in Kenya, however, the mandate of declaring a winner is on the IEBC and specifically the chairperson, that is the interpretation is to the exclusion of everyone else including the media. For the media, there is also a reputational risk in declaring a winner from results that are not independently yours. IEBC numbers have been disputed at the source; this risk of inaccuracy is also another reason why the media leaves the duty of announcing results to IEBC. The cost of conducting independent tallying for a media house is also a huge challenge. The cost of deployment to each polling station and the technology required is too high for one media house to bear. As such the media has to depend on results from a public portal operated by the electoral management body, IEBC. NMG, a media house in Kenya, decided to conduct its election results tallying, using data from the IEBC. Despite the data being sourced from the electoral body, the media house did put in place infrastructure that included equipment, technology, and personnel for this project. The objective was to illuminate the tallying process and provide a credible mirror of the process. The public believed that the nation's media was more equipped to fulfil its watchdog function than in the past as they eagerly anticipated election day. Historically, disputes have arisen over the results that are sent out after the votes are counted.

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