Date of Award

2-2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Digital Journalism (MADJ)

First Supervisor/Advisor

Lydia Radoli

Second Supervisor/Advisor

Hesbon Owilla

Department

Graduate School of Media and Communications

Abstract

Media visibility is a crucial component for people seeking political mileage or people vying for electoral seats. To win the hearts of voters, a politician must embrace the media and the visibility that comes with it since the electorate tends to believe what the media highlights which in turn influences the decisions they make. Women leadership and women in politics are highly contested phenomena in Kenya and with it comes challenges especially considering the patriarchal nature of Kenyan politics. Using directed content analysis, this study sought to analyse media coverage of women politicians, the framing of women politicians and issued addressed by women politicians in the run up to the 2022 general elections in Kenya. This study is anchored on the framing theory and was restricted to Citizen TV and KTN News. In consideration to the framing theory, this study assumed the existence of pre-existing frames which were created by the media, which assisted in the development of a code sheet and codebook. Primetime news bulletins were recorded on the sampled days, the bulletins were then analysed quantitatively and coded as statistical data onto SPSS with the guidance of a code sheet and codebook. The results from the data analysis were then then presented inform of tables and pie charts. The study established the following: women politicians got 65% of coverage (almost two thirds), the Women Candidates who got more coverage had longer experience in Kenyan politics, they were closely associated with big parties and ethic blocs. The study also established that 67% of the stories were given high prominence, majority of the stories were hard news at 70%, the predominantly addressed issue was Governance at 56%, women politicians were mostly framed under the economic frame at 56%, women were the main actors in stories featuring women political candidates and that voters made up on 2% of the news sources. This study recommends that the media pays more attention to all candidates despite their political experience and relationship with male political big wigs.

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