Devolution ii final final

1Media coverage of the devolution process in kenya [ii]

(II)

2 Media coverage of the devolution process in kenya [ii]


ContentsAcknowledgements 5

Foreword by the CEO 6

Executive Summary 7

Objectives & Methodology 8

SECTION ONE 10

PART I: PRINT MEDIA

Space Allocation to Issues on Devolution in Print Media 11

Space Allocation to County and National Governments 12

Section of Devolution Coverage in the Newspapers 14

News Sources on Devolution 15

Topical Issues of Print Media Coverage on Devolution 16

Print media Coverage of issues on County & National government 17

Coverage of Political and Administrative Process under Devolution

by Print Media 17

Legislative Issues Covered under Devolution 19

Gender Dimension in the Coverage of Devolution 20

PART II: TELEVISION 23

TV stations coverage of Devolution Based on program section 23

TV coverage of County and National Government 23

Topical issues discussed on Devolution

Source of Media Voice on Devolution 24

TV Coverage of Special Topical Issues Related to Devolution 25

PART III: RADIO 27

National Radio Stations Coverage of Devolution 27

Allocation of space to National and County governments 28


Topical Issues as Covered by National Radio Stations 28

Vernacular Radio stations coverage of Devolution 29

Vernacular Radio stations topical coverage of devolution. 29

Vernacular Radio Stations’ Coverage of County & National

Government 31

Adherence to the Code of Conduct by Print & Electronic Media 32

Male Journalists tend to centralise Men in their stories,

mere coincidence? 33

SECTION TWO 35

Media coverage of Relationships between National & County

Governments 38

Media Coverage of Constitution Implementation Commission (CIC) 38

Media coverage of the Transition Authority (TA) 38

Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) 39

The Media Coverage of Special Topical Issues under Devolution 40

Media Watchdog Reporting on Regional Balance, Ethnic Balance,

Marginalised Groups and Gender Parity in Appointments 44

Media Coverage of Alleged Threats against Devolution 46

Analysis on Opinion Pieces in the Media 47

SECTION THREE 50

Conclusions and Recommendations 50

Media Agenda Setting 52

Public Agenda Setting 52

Policy Agenda setting 53


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Media Council of Kenya is grateful to those who participated in ensuring the success of data collection, analysis, report writing and preview/editing of this report.

We acknowledge the work of the MCK Media Analysis team:

• Immaculate Mwende

• Abraham Kisang

• Allennita Gakii

• Njeri Munyiri

• Ahmed Kassim

The analysis and writing and of this report was done by the Research and Media Monitoring Offi cer Amos Kibet.

We also appreciate the input and support of the Council’s Chief Executive Offi cer Haron Mwangi, the Deputy CEO and Programs Manager Victor Bwire and the Communications and Information offi cer Jerry Abuga towards the success of the publication of this report.

We immensely appreciate the Kenya Media Programme and GIZ for their continued support towards the realisation of this project’s objectives and success.


FOREWORD BY THE CEO

As per the mandatory requirement by the Media Act 2007, the Media Council of Kenya monitors newspapers, television stations and radio stations on their adherence to the Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism in Kenya. The monitoring and analysis is used as a barometer to gauge whether the media is adhering to the prescribed ethical standards as enshrined in the Media Act 2007 and any emerging trends that need attention from the stakeholders.Once the monitoring has been done, the reports are published in book form and presented to media industry stakeholders, including media owners, editors, media trainers and journalists.

I am glad that the monitoring has also enabled rapid responses by the MCK to cases of breach of the Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism. The reports released by the Council also provide peer review materials for the MCK- organised stakeholder forums and professional collaborations initiatives. Additionally, the Unit informs the training department by providing feedback on the status of reporting and coverage of stories by various media outlets.

The role of the media in the implementation of the Constitution, and by extension, devolution, cannot be gainsaid. With the ushering in of devolution, the Fourth Estate is expected to play a key role in the new landscape. It is therefore important that the media continues playing its watchdog role in the process besides keeping the public informed of developments at the Counties. The media should now utilise the expanded media space as it pursues its contribution to development of the devolved administrative units. It should also continue playing its agenda setting role so as to ensure that sound development initiatives take root at the counties.

Further, the media should remain focused on exercising its freedom while embracing responsibility as per the Constitutional provisions.

This is our second report in series of planned reports on media and devolution. In this report, we focus on how the media covered the devolution process. Our monitoring looked at both electronic and print media platforms. It is our hope that this report will act as a ‘’score card’’ for our media industry and hence contribute to enhanced professionalism and adherence to the prescribed ethical standards.

HARON MWANGIChief Executive Offi cer & Secretary to the Council


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The coverage of the devolution process in Kenya by the media has been very critical especially in relation to its roles as the fourth estate. This is the second report produced by the Media Council of Kenya on how the media is covering the devolution process. The report examines media coverage of devolution process in Kenya.

The fi rst section of this report looks at how the media has covered devolution in terms of space allocation, prominence of coverage, airtime allocation for county and National levels of government and also looks at the topical issues covered under devolution..The second section looks at how the media has covered special issues like intergovernmental relations (County and National government).It also looks at how the media has covered the three constitutional institutions mandated to guide in the implementation of devolution. These are the Constitution Implementation Commission, the Transition Authority and the Commission on Revenue Allocation. The second section also looks at how the media has covered issues like health, infrastructure and the economy in relation and with reference to devolution.

The third section offers conclusions and recommendations based on the fi ndings of this report. A comparison between the fi rst report on devolution shall be made in some sections of this report to evaluate if there is any improvement in media coverage of some areas.

It is clear from this report that the media has prioritised devolution in terms of coverage. Print media had the highest coverage compared to the two other media platforms. This is applicable in all the areas of analysis that this report looked at.


HIGHLIGHTS OF KEY FINDINGS

• There is a consistent breach of several articles of the code of ethics for the practice of journalism observed in media coverage 9of the devolution processes. The breaches commonly noted were unfair and unbalanced news reporting.

• The main sources of news on the devolution process in the media are state offi cials who were covered in 71.2% of the articles analysed followed by politicians 9.6%. The voice of members of the public are muted as members of the public represented in this analysis as a man/woman on the street have been scored very poorly at 3.6% of the total coverage.

• Political and administrative process of devolution was well covered in the media with 37% on TV and print media, and 55% on national radio stations. The other issues that received good coverage were the Economy and legislation with special reference to Revenue Allocation Bill.

• Radio had a lot of unfair and unbalanced stories. Individuals adversely mentioned were not given a chance to respond, a clear violation of the code of ethics for the practice of journalism in Kenya. This consisted 6% of the news articles/clips analysed.

• Negative tonality is a major observation from the analysis of media coverage of the devolution process. On average, approximately 20% of news articles and clips in all media platforms covered intergovernmental relations negatively especially on issues relating to division of responsibilities and resources between offi cers of both levels of government.

• Discussions on transition issues constituted 14% of total coverage. For example, media coverage of the Constitutional Implementation Commission was mainly over its calls for the transition process especially of functions from the national to the county government,.36% to interrelations between the National and County government while28% was related to public fi nance especially during the passing of the revenue allocation bill.

• Radio Taifa KBC accorded the highest coverage to devolution issues with 34% followed by Citizen Radio 26% then Milele FM 19%. The issues majorly covered by the National Radio stations on devolution was the supremacy battles between the National Assembly and the Senate over the Revenue Allocation Bill which was signed into law by the president.

• The number of stories that covered the issues of regional and ethnic balance, marginalised groups and gender parity in the media were very minimal.


OBJECTIVES & METHODOLOGY

Objectives

The monitoring aimed at:• Conducting content (discourse analysis) of how devolution was covered by

media with a special focus onissues at county and national governments.

• Determining the incidence and extent to which the Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism in Kenya was adhered to or otherwise during the reporting of the devolution process.

• Undertaking an objective analysis of how the media covered institutions dealing with devolution

• To examine media Coverage of issues and functions critical to the devolution process in Kenya including health, infrastructure among others was covered by the media..

MethodologyContent Analysis was used for content development which formed a data set that informed the analysis and fi ndings of this report. All media platforms; print, radio and TV were analysed. Quantitative and qualitative methods of data analysis and interpretation were then used to synthesise the collected data into the fi ndings of this report.

The basis of media monitoring which strongly guided the adoption of the code sheet that was used for this report is the Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism in Kenyaas enshrined in the Media Act 2007.Data mined for this analysis specifi cally constitutes coverage on devolution. Data analysis was done

This report looked at 5 TV stations, 10 radio stations and 4 daily newspapers. The 10 radio stations included 5 vernacular radio stations from different regions of the country. It also looked at 5 national radio stations. All the main media houses had their print, radio and TV outlets considered for this report. The scope of this report covered the period of one week in the month of June.


SECTION ONE

PART I:

PRINT MEDIA

IntroductionThe monitoring of media coverage of devolution by print media explores the extent to which newspapers reported on devolution with preliminary look at county and national government mentions in terms of space allocation and quality and quantity of coverage. The print media in Kenya consist of regular daily newspapers, weekly newspapers, the magazines, the regional newspapers, and alternative press.

Print media platform comes third after radio and TV platforms in terms of audience consumption. According to a quarterly audience research study conducted by IpsosSynovate, the Daily Nation and the Standard are the two leading newspaper publications in the country and are produced by the two leading media houses in the country. This study focused majorly on the daily newspapers which include the Daily Nation, The Standard, The People and the Star newspapers.

The print media platform offers an ample space and opportunity for extensive discourse and coverage of pre-elections because of its attributes as a media tool. Some of the areas that coverers political/election related articles are the Local News section, Opinion & Letters to the Editor section, Editorial/Commentary and also in special features magazine inserts. Some of these sections were key informants during our data collection on the topic of devolution.

Our print monitoring scope covered over 4 dailies. We employ the use of OCR (Optical Character Recognition) through a system called “NewBase”; the system is fed with relevant key words around the project being monitored and will on a daily basis capture all related articles; these articles are then taken through the relevant processing and analysis by trained media Analyst.


Space Allocation to Issues on Devolution in Print MediaSource Name

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Valid Daily Nation 41 16.4 16.4 16.4Standard 38 15.2 15.2 31.6Star 115 46.0 46.0 77.6The People Newspaper

56 22.4 22.4 100.0

Total 250 100.0 100.0

Percentage of Space Allocation by Newspaper to Devolution

THE PEOPLE22%

THE STAR46%

STANDARD15%

DAILYNATION

1%

The Star accorded the highest coverage (46%) to devolution issues. The People was second with 22% while the Daily Nation and the Standard had 17% and 15% respectively. The Standard has special pages that specifi cally cover issues arising from the different counties called ‘On the Counties’. The Daily Nation too has special pages called ‘County News’ which does in-depth coverage of county news

Newspaper Space Allocation in cm2Daily Nation 4544Standard 3976The Star 6355The People 7211Grand Total 22086


From this analysis The People accorded more space in CM2 to devolution than the Star, yet the Star had a lot of stories in frequency. This means that the total space allocated by The People was bigger and offered more space for the discourse on issues compared to The Star.

In the fi rst report on devolution, the Standard had the highest coverage of devolution issues; however in this report it has reduced signifi cantly to become the one with the least coverage.

The highest space allocation was to the county government in all Kenyan newspapers for the period under study. The issues covered on county governments included infrastructure, appointments of county offi cers, economic issues and projects, environment, insecurity, education among other topics.Most of the issues discussed on national government were on Revenue Allocation Bill and other legislative concerns. Also covered were issues of power struggles and normal politics that discussed devolution.

PROMINENCE OF ARTICLES ON DEVOLUTION

Prominence of articles concerns the placement and presentation of articles in a newspaper in a way which attract the reader’s attention. Factors related to prominence include placement of the article in the main section of the newspaper, placement on the front page of a section, placement on the top of the page, headline font size, article length and presence of pictures or other visuals.


The highest space allocation was to the county government in all Kenyan newspapers for the period under study. The issues covered on county governments included infrastructure, appointments of county offi cers, economic issues and projects, environment, insecurity, education among other topics.

Most of the issues discussed on national government were on Revenue Allocation Bill and other legislative concerns. Also covered were issues of power struggles and normal politics that discussed devolution.

This analysis looked at prominence in terms of newspaper placement and from the analysis very few articles were on the front page of devolution. Majority of articles on the Star were in the middle section of the newspaper. However from the graph it can be said that the majority of articles were able to publish devolution articles under the fi rst pages of the newspaper; that is from page 1 to around page 19.This also means most of the stories were covered under news and opinion and also commentaries.


SECTION OF DEVOLUTION COVERAGE IN THE NEWSPAPERS

The newspapers covered devolution extensively in the News section. Most of the articles appeared as hard news. Out of the 217 news articles, only three of the eight were followed up with feature stories that expounded more on devolution.


Valid Feature 8 3.2 3.2 3.2News 217 86.8 86.8 90.0Opinion 25 10.0 10.0 100.0Total 250 100.0 100.0

10% of space was allocated to devolution issues in the all newspapers opinions section.. Opinion in this section is inclusive of Letters to the Editor.

In comparison to our fi rst report on devolution, opinion still carries the largest portion of devolution coverage while the News segment also still largest coverage of devolution in the print media.


NEWS SOURCES ON DEVOLUTION


Valid (Other) 11 4.4 4.4 4.4Academic 2 .8 .8 5.2Business woman/man 12 4.8 4.8 10.0Diplomat 1 .4 .4 10.4NGO 8 3.2 3.2 13.6Politician 24 9.6 9.6 23.2Professional Associ-ation

4 1.6 1.6 24.8

Religious Leader 1 .4 .4 25.2State Offi cial 178 71.2 71.2 96.4Woman/man on the street

9 3.6 3.6 100.0

Total 250 100.0 100.0

Discussions around devolution in the media are still driven by the state offi cials (71.2%) followed by politicians (9.6%). The public represented in this analysis as a man/woman on the street have been accorded less space by the media on issues that concern devolution with a 3.6% of the total coverage.

In our fi rst devolution report, state offi cial conversations were 59%. This shows an improvement to 71%. The decision by media houses to space little space/airtime to members of the public on issues concerning devolution is a refl ection of lack of diversity in the media.


TOPICAL ISSUES OF PRINT MEDIA COVERAGE ON DEVOLUTION

No Topical issue Percentage

1 Political process and administration 37%2 Legislation 14%3 Economy 12%4 Agriculture 7%5 Infrastructure 6%6 Health 5%7 Education 4%8 Environment 4%9 Law and Order 3%10 Land Issues/IDPs 2%11 Lifestyle/Entertainment/Family 2%12 Elections 1%

Political and administrative process of devolution was well covered in the print media with 37% of entire articles analysed. These included appointments, legislation, power struggles and processes and structures under revenue allocation and budgetary process.Issues on legislation were specifi cally touching on devolution and included legislation on revenue allocation, referendum, power struggles and even a court case on devolution. Other topical issues covered in this analysis include economic issues, agriculture and infrastructure.

PRINT MEDIA COVERAGE OF ISSUES ON COUNTY & NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

Topical Issues County National

Agriculture 78% 22%Corruption 100% 0Economy 61% 39%Education 100% 0Elections 100% 0Environment 100% 0Ethnic Confl icts 100% 0Health 77% 15%Infrastructure 93% 7%


Land Issues/IDPs 75% 25%Law and Order 75% 25%Legislation 8% 92%Political process and ad-ministration

41% 58%

No of articles 140 110

Agriculture received 78% of total space coverage under county government and 22% under National government. The economy was covered extensively by the media under county government at 61% of total space analysed. Other issues covered by the media under the National and county government included health, Infrastructure and land issues among other issues.

The highest coverage of topical issues between county and national government was determined by the activities and functions around the time of analysis. Political and administrative and legislation process were majorly on national government while topical issues like agriculture, ethnic confl ict, land issues and health were mainly covered under county governments.

Topical issues like elections, education, environment and ethnic confl ict were exclusively covered under county governments. Just like in the previous report (Devolution I), the county governments continue to drive discussions and coverage in the media.on by Print Media

Coverage of Political and Administrative Process under Devolution by Print Media


The power struggles under the political and administrative structure of the devolved government was 9% of the total news articles analysed and related to the media reports on the three arms of government over issues on devolution.

The media covered statements that were covered by the Senate members including the Speaker that sometimes the National Assembly does not consult or forward Bills that touch on the counties to the upper chambers as required by the law. The wrangles covered by the media are also with regards to the management of CDF funds which the Senators feel they should have a say in managing.

The process and structures analysis constituted 15% of the total articles analysed. This focussed on the mechanism that the different levels of government-national and county governments- are putting in place to ensure that devolution is achieved as reported by the media. It therefore captures the functions undertaken by the different state offi cers for the fulfi lment of constitutional requirements under devolution.

The Media coverage issues of appointments at the county and national governments and whether they were in line with the requirements of devolution. This was found to be 26% of articles analysed.

The coverage on the Revenue Bill is connected to the petition fi lled at the Supreme Court by the 67- member senate after President Uhuru Kenyatta shrugged off calls to refuse to sign into law the controversial Division of Revenue Bill. The same story received high coverage in the media with the aspect of administrative process being looked at in the story.

Media reports on budgetary allocations looked at how the executive arm of government was able to allocate fi nances to the National and county government. It also looked at how the budgetary allocation will affect the implementation of devolution.

“Senators and Governors yesterday resolved to collect more than one million signatures to allow them amend Article 95 of the constitution that gives the National Assembly veto powers over the Division of Revenue Bill. Th ey said they have a right to contribute to the Bill because it touches on the aff airs of the county governments. Th ey also resolved that apart from moving to Supreme Court for advisory opinion they will also embark on nationwide rallies to sensitise Kenyans on the need to protect the devolved system of government.” 2013-06-10 .News .Th e Star. By Oliver Mathenge


LEGISLATIVE ISSUES COVERED UNDER DEVOLUTION

The highest coverage on legislation was related to the Revenue Bill which was signed into law by the president. The media tried to provide legal framework that guided the issues as several journalists and media houses covered the issue from different perspectives. It is however important to note that the majority of articles [94%], that were in the print provided a legal interpretation to the revenue allocation bill.

The second well covered issue under legislation was the attempts by the senate to call for a referendum to ensure that the National government does not have excessive powers in revenue allocation.

“Senators and the leadership of county governments now want Kenyans to go for a referendum to decide the fate of devolution. Th e leaders said they wanted tight laws enshrined in the Constitution to protect the devolved units…..Th ey agreed on a two-prong approach to protect their turf, initiating “immediate and medium term measures” that could see the country return to the ballot to amend the 2010 Constitution.” 2013-06-10 .News . Th e Standard. By Moses Njagih

Correlation between the Number of Sources in the story and the Viewpoints

This study sought to fi nd out the correlations between the number of news sources in a story and the viewpoints. The number of sources in a story is the number of people/organisations or any other source the journalist has quoted or used as a source of


information for a particular story. The viewpoints on the other hand entail the number of expressed perceptions in a given story.

Correlations

Viewpoints Number_Sources

Viewpoints Pearson Correlation 1 .502Sig. (2-tailed) .000N 247 247

Number_Sources Pearson Correlation .502** 1Sig. (2-tailed) .000N 247 250

Correlation is signifi cant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

In the output we can see that Pearson’s r is .502, so there is a modest relationship between the two variables. The signifi cance level is .000, which means the relationship is highly signifi cant (and therefore it is likely that there is a relationship between the two variables in the population as well as the sample).

The Pearson’s correlation value is .502. This means that as one variable increases in value, the second variable also increase in value. Similarly, as one variable decreases in value, the second variable also decreases in value. This is called a positive correlation. Since our example Pearson’s r is positive, we can conclude that when the number of news sources increases (our fi rst variable), the number of viewpoints (our second variable) also increases.

From this analysis, the number of viewpoints can be increased with increased number of news sources when media is covering devolution. This is because there is a direct correlation between the number of news sources and the viewpoints in a news story. When covering devolution, the media should aim at getting news sources that will ensure balanced stories .

Gender Dimension in the Coverage of Devolution

The Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism states that the media should accord opportunity to both genders both as news sources and also as news sources. This will ensure equal coverage of both genders when covering devolution.


The male gender is consistently central in all the newspapers analysed. The Daily Nation, The Standard, the Star and The people all accorded more coverage to the males as compared to the females totalling to 35,38, 92 and 34 respectively.. The inferences that can be obtained from this analysis are that males are dominant drivers of devolution process in the media.

The highest frequency of female coverage by the media as a central fi gure was in the Star newspaper. However, all the stories in the Standard during this period of analysis were male centred with all the stories covered focusing on the males.


PART II:

TELEVISION

During the period of analysis, KBC accorded the highest coverage to devolution issues 29% followed by NTV with 24% and K24 got 20%.The highest coverage was related to the wrangles between the Senate and the National Assembly over the presidential assent of the Revenue Allocation Bill.

Citizen TV allocated more airtime for the coverage of devolution compared to K24 yet it has a higher frequency in terms of clip count. This is because Citizen’s coverage was driven by a feature which was considerably lengthy.


TV stations coverage of Devolution Based on program section

TV Station Feature Interview News Report

Opinion Piece

Grand Total

CITIZEN TV 1 1 9 11K24 TV 1 16 17KBC 2 23 25KTN 1 9 10NTV 2 19 1 22Total 1 7 76 1 85

The number of interviews has increased considerably by 75% from the previous analysis on devolution which had only 4 interviews on devolution.

One of the features on devolution was done by Citizen TV. The reporter conducted a special analysis on the roles of the County Commissioner and County Governor in which he covered West Pokot where he interviewed both the locals and county leaders. From the news analysis it can be said that the locals are aware of the role of each leader in the county as one Gabriel Lonyiko, a resident of Kacheliba remarked “County Commissioner inatetea upande wa serikali na gavena inateta upande ya wananchi”. In addition, the feature analysis indicated that both County Commissioner and County Governor were united and each understood his role in the county.

According to our fi rst report on devolution, KTN allocated the highest percentage of coverage [24%] on county and national government issues. CTV allocated 22% and KBC 2%. CTV and KTN accorded 90% of its coverage to county government issues and 10% to national government. KBC also dedicated 81% of its airtime on county issues and 19% on national issues. This shows a marked improvement by some of the TV stations in the allocation of airtime to devolution issues in their media platforms.

TV coverage of County and National Government


The National government took precedence in media coverage with 92% in KTN and 86% in NTV.KBC tried balancing county and National government coverage with 60% in National government and 40% in county government.

Topical issues discussed on Devolution

Topic Percentage

Political Process & Administration 37%Legislation 21%Economy 13%Insecurity 8%Accidents / Disaster 6%Election 3%Health 3%

Political process and administration received the highest coverage on devolution in the media with 37% airtime in the news segment. The supremacy battle between the Senate and the National Assembly dominated the coverage on TV as the appointment of County Commissioners by the Inspector General of Police also took prominence in terms of coverage of the issues highlighted in the TV platform.

The 21% coverage of legislation by the TV platform related to the Senate and County Governors who planned to collaborate and collect a million signatures in the 47 counties to enable referendum in a move to amend the constitution to give them more powers than the National Assembly.

Source of Media Voice on Devolution


The majority of TV presenters and reporters who covered devolution stories were female and constituted 32% of the total presenters. However, both gender were able to be well represented within the 47% of both genders.

TV Coverage of Special Topical Issues Related to Devolution

a) Economy

Coverage of economic issues on devolution

County Economy9%

Industrialisation 9%

Agriculture9%

Revenue Bill27%

Budgetary allocations

46%

The budgetary allocations were a major topic of media coverage with media focus being on the education sector, energy sector, infrastructure and health and how they affect devolution. Also affected sectors include the constitutional reforms which will not be receiving any money. Under the topic of economy; budgetary allocation was covered in 46% of the articles while the revenue bill was covered in 27% of the total articles analysed under the topic of economy. Other topics covered under economy included agriculture, industrialisation and specifi c issues to do with the county economy.


b) Political and Administrative process

The process and structures analysis in the political and administrative topic of devolution focussed on the mechanism that the different levels of government-national and county governments- are putting in place to ensure that devolution is achieved as reported by the media. It therefore captures the functions undertaken by the different state offi cers for the fulfi lment of constitutional requirements under devolution. Under political and administrative structures, budget allocations totalled to 19% ,appointments totalled to 19% while power struggles was covered in 16% of the total articles analaysed. Other issues covered under political and administrative issues were roles of the senate with regards to defending the devolution process and issues of insecurity.

c) Legislation


Supremacy battles between the Senate and the National Assembly took the centre stage in media coverage of legislation touching on devolution. This took 38% of total coverage on legislation, 28% on devolution legislative framework and 22% on the legislative framework on Revenue Allocation Bills.

One of the issues that the media covered under legislation was when the Court of Appeal ruled that the appointment of county commissioners was legitimate, that the 47 county commissioners will work parallel with governors and the media termed this a possible threat to devolution.

PART III:

Radio

National Radio Stations Coverage of Devolution

The national radio stations covered in this report are Radio Citizen, Milele, Radio Maisha, Q FM and Radio Taifa. The analysis also considered representation of the major media houses in Kenya. Therefore the major media houses represented by this choice of radio stations are Nation Media group (NMG), Standard Media Group, Royal Media Services (RMS), Mediamax and Kenya Broadcasting services (KBC).

Radio Taifa KBC accorded the highest coverage to devolution issues with 34% followed by Citizen Radio [26%] then Milele FM [19%]. The issues majorly covered by the national radio stations on devolution were the supremacy battles between the National Assembly and the Senate over the Revenue Allocation Bill which was signed into law by the President.


Allocation of space to National and County governments

The coverage of national issues took prominence was mainly on political process and administration which was 77% of the radio clips analysed. Another issue that was well covered was legislation and economic issues. The coverage on devolution at the county level was 23% of the clips analysed and centred mainly on the economy, agriculture and health.

Topical Issues as Covered by National Radio Stations

Topical Issue Percentage

Political Process & Administration 55%Legislation 21%Economy 11%Insecurity 8%Corruption 2%Health 2%Infrastructure 2%

Political process and administration took precedence in terms of coverage just like in other media with 55% of total coverage accorded to the same. Legislation [21%] and the economy [11%] followed in that order. However, unlike in our fi rst devolution report fi ndings, insecurity and corruption were covered less by the media around this time of analysis.


Vernacular Radio stations coverage of DevolutionDuring the period under study, we also analysed the performance of some vernacular radio stations and their coverage of the devolution process. The stations looked at are: Egesa FM, Kameme FM, Kass FM, Mulembe FM, Bahari FM and Radio Nam Lolwe. This analysis was aimed at understanding how the vernacular radio stations covered devolution and did not necessarily look into the adherence to the Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism.

Vernacular radio stations covered devolution well with Kass FM according the highest coverage on devolution matters during the week of analysis [26%].The vernacular radio station that followed is Kameme FM with 24% and Nam Lolwe and Bahari had 17% each in coverage of devolution. The issue that was mostly covered under devolution during the period of analysis was the passing and assenting of the Revenue Bill by Parliament and the President.

Another issue that received prominent coverage by the vernacular radio stations is the governors and senators from all the 47 counties initiative to try and seek support for referendum regarding devolution.

Vernacular Radio stations topical coverage of devolution.

Topical Issue Percentage

Political Process & Administration 45%Legislation 28%Economy 11%Insecurity 13%Corruption 1%Health 1%Infrastructure 1%


Just like in national radio stations and in other media platforms as well, political process and administration took the centre stage in the coverage of devolution in vernacular radio stations. The coverage of political processes and administration consisted 45% while legislative issues took 28%.

The controversial Revenue Allocation Bill did not escape the attention of the vernacular radio stations. The issue received 55% coverage in the media. The calls for a referendum and issue of power struggles between state offi cers in the devolved government received 15% and 14% coverage respectively.

The Transition Authority as a constitutional organisation received 5% coverage and was related to the row with the Governors on the functions of the county government.

Topical Issues covered in Vernacular Radio Stations

Other10%

TransitionAuthority

10%

Revenue Bill55%

Referendum15%

PowerStruggles

15%

In our fi rst report on devolution, the extent to which devolution was covered by the media was assessed. This section therefore determines whether there has been marked improvement by some of the radio stations in the coverage of regional issues.Regional radio stations-most of which are vernacular- should help in projecting issues that pertain and affect the specifi c counties. They can also set the agenda that will help highlight the key issues that affect the specifi c counties.


Vernacular Radio Stations’ Coverage of County & National Government

In this report, analysis 1 is based on the fi rst report on devolution (Devolution I) which facilitates the comparative analysis with this report. The fi ndings of the fi rst report showed that Egesa FM accorded more coverage [84%] to issues outside the counties where its listenership is based. Kass FM had the highest coverage [79%] of issues that affected the counties where its listenership is based.

Analysis 1 refers to the fi ndings contained in our fi rst report. Analysis 2 refers to the fi ndings of this report. A comparative analysis shows that there is a discrepancy in the fi ndings of the two analyses which might be an indication of the improvement or deterioration of media coverage by the vernacular radio stations.

Radio Station Level of Government Analysis 1 Analysis 2

Bahari fm County 50% 43% National 50% 57%Egesa fm County 16% 45% National 84% 55%Kass fm County 79% 64% National 21% 36%Mulembe County 56% 47% National 44% 53%Namlolwe County 69% 56% National 31% 44%

From the fi ndings of the 2nd analysis, most of the vernacular radio stations have been able to improve in balancing their coverage of both the national and county


governments. Radio stations like Egesa FM that has highly skewed airtime allocation seem to have balanced the same. Its county coverage has improved from 16% to 45%.

Adherence to the Code of Conduct by Print & Electronic MediaJournalistic Opinion in Print News articles

The expression of opinion by journalist in the stories they do is one of the principles dealt with in the code of conduct for the practice of journalism in Kenya. Journalists who covered devolution may have exercised this principle in great detail. 86% of the news articles on devolution did not have any opinion of a journalist.Comment_Fact


Valid 20% journalistic opinion

19 7.6 7.6 7.6

20% journalistic opinion

14 5.6 5.6 13.2

no journalistic opinion

217 86.8 86.8 100.0

Total 250 100.0 100.0

Chance to comment

The Code of Conduct for the Practise of Journalism in Kenya states that the main objective of a journalist is to write a fair, accurate and an unbiased story on matters of public interest. All sides of the story shall be reported, wherever possible. It emphasises the fact that comments should be obtained from anyone who is mentioned in an unfavourable context.


Radio did not give a chance to comment to individual who were mentioned adversely in the media. This consisted 6% of the news articles/clips analysed. Most of the articles that violated this code were those that involved blame game on those claimed to be planning to sabotage devolution.

Male Journalists tend to centralise Men in their stories, mere coincidence?

The code of conduct for the practise of journalism states women and men should be treated equally as news subjects and news sources.

Author Gender * Gender_Presence CrosstabulationCount

Gender_Presence

Total

(n.a.) Both women and men equally central

Man central Woman central

Author-Gender

(n.a.) 0 2 54 4 60

both 0 1 3 0 4female 0 4 15 0 19male 7 24 128 8 167

Total 7 31 200 12 250

The cross tabulation above shows that male journalist covered their male counterparts more in their news articles. On the contrary, female journalists who are not as populous as their counterparts covered female sources less as well.


The highest percentages of complete stories were found on TV stations with 21% of clips analysed .The 5 W’s and a ‘H’ provide the news writer with quick and convenient means of organizing the lead of a story. They also provide the framework or structure for organizing the lead of a story. However, ethically the presence of W‘s and a ‘H’ ensures that a wholesome story has been published by the journalist..


SECTION TWOMedia coverage of Relationships between National & County Governments

The constitution of Kenya under article 6 provides that the territory of Kenyan shall be partitioned into counties as provided for in the fi rst schedule. The same articles acknowledge the fact that there are two levels of government at the National and county level. The government at the National level shall be distinct and interdependent and shall conduct their mutual relations on the basis of consultations and cooperation.

The media by its coverage can portray relationship between the two levels of government negatively or positively. This section of analysis therefore examined the utterances that were made by senior government offi cials in their offi cial capacity on issues touching on devolution and the government. From this analysis it is evident that standoff between sections of the national government and the incoming county administration has done much in creating unnecessary friction.

The highest percentage of negative intergovernmental relations as covered by the media was to do with the division of responsibilities and resources between offi cers of both levels of government. Negative coverage also emanated from the statements that


were issues by the council of county governors during press briefi ngs. Positive media coverage involved the talks, meetings and discussions by the two bodies created under the intergovernmental relations Act. These bodies are the National county coordinating summit which comprises the president and the 47 governors.

The passing and presidential assent of the revenue allocation bill also contributed to the negative media coverage of the intergovernmental relations because it concerned the split of revenue between the National and county levels of government.

Some media articles and clips suggested that there is in-built resistance by some in charge of the national government to ceding some of their powers to the counties. Some clips/articles also made reference to the fact that this is the second time since Independence that Kenya is attempting to devolve power away from the centre and also the second time that the senate is under attack after President Kenyatta abolished the senate after independence.

“Certainly, there is in-built resistance by some in charge of the national government to ceding some of their powers to the counties. This is only the second time since Independence that Kenya is attempting to devolve power away from the centre.” 2013-06-10 .News .The Star. By Oliver Mathenge

Media Coverage of Constitution Implementation Commission (CIC)

The Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) is an important organisation in the implementation of devolution in Kenya. Late last year the CIC undertook media clinics that were aimed at sensitising the media industry on how to cover devolution. The aim of conducting the clinics was also to empower the media and in turn the public to safeguard the letter and spirit of the constitution


The CIC media coverage on transition issues constituted 14% of its total coverage. The coverage was mainly over its calls for the transition process especially of functions from the national to the county government to be done progressively once the counties have portrayed their ability to discharge specifi c roles.

Institutional coverage related to the mention of CIC and its offi cials in the media in relation to devolution. Under institutional coverage, CIC Chairman Charles Nyachae was extensively covered in the media on subjects relating to the devolution.

It is important to note that the media coverage of CIC has always been in context of the law. This means that they have largely been involved in giving legal guidelines on the process of devolution. This also means that 94% of all media clips and articles captured under CIC in the media contained legislation on devolution or references thereof. This included press briefi ngs dispatched to the news room touching on devolution by CIC.CIC coverage in the media has also been related to meetings, conferences and workshops with parties concerned with and affected by devolution. Such coverage includes meetings with the governors to discuss devolution under the constitution 2010 in Naivasha. CIC media coverage has been related to constitutional and legal provisions guiding county governments, intergovernmental relations and public fi nance and also on transition.

“Th is is the stand that Commission on Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) took on the row in a statement on Sunday: CIC notes with great concern the ongoing supremacy debate between the National Assembly and the Senate, especially with regard to its eff ect on the Division of Revenue Bill. CIC’s opinion guided by the Constitutional provisions is as follows:- Article 96 of the Constitution sets out the role of the Senate to include representing


and protecting the interests of counties and considering, debating and approving Bills concerning counties. Article 110 defi nes Bills concerning counties as including a Bill containing provisions aff ecting the fi nances of county governments.” 2013-06-11 .News .Nation. By Nation Reporter

“County governments have been asked to prepare their transition plans and their fi rst quarter progress reports on the implementation of the devolution system. A circular prepared by the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution says the progress reports should be ready by end the end of this month while the transition plans should prepared by July 27. …….Th e transition plans will contain priority policies, laws, administrative procedures, implementation frameworks and administrative procedures to be developed and enacted by county governments. Th e plans will indicate the timeframe for each activity.” 2013-06-10 .News .Th e Star. By Oliver Mathenge

“Th e Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) has expressed concern over the manner in which national government functions are being transferred to County governments saying it is rushed and risks paralysing devolution. CIC said the process of transferring functions to the County governments must be restructured to comply with the laid down procedures.” 2013-06-17 .News .Milele FM. 13:06

It is important to note that CIC embarked on a media training program aimed at sensitising the media on the Kenyan Devolution Model in the year 2012. CIC therefore conducted media clinics throughout the country which aimed at sensitising journalists on how they could report on devolution but was also aimed at educating journalists on devolution in a way that could ensure clear reporting and coverage.

Media coverage of the Transition Authority (TA)

The Transitional Authority is a statutory body with a constitutional mandate of facilitating and coordinating the transition to the devolved system of government in Kenya pursuant to the provisions of the devolved Government Act 2012 and section 15 of the sixth schedule to the constitution of Kenya 2010.

The Transition Authority is an important institution that this report looked at because it facilitates devolution process. Some of the functions of the Transition Authority includes to; facilitate and coordinate the transition to devolved system of government as provided under section 15 of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of Kenya, facilitate the analysis and the phased transfer of functions provided under the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution to the national and county governments. The Authority also determines the resource requirement for each of the functions, developes a framework for the comprehensive and effective transfer of functions as provided for under section 15 of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution and many other functions as well.


The highest number of articles on the Transition Authority was in the print media with 45% of the total clips/articles analysed. This is because most print articles had mere mentions of Transition Authority as a way of expounding on issues related to devolution. The highest coverage during this period was related to the governors who directed their fury at the Transition Authority mandated to oversee the smooth transition to devolved governments, accusing it of sabotaging devolution. Th e chairman of the transitional authority, Kinuthia Wa Mwangi says there is no going back in the setting up of the devolved government he condemned a move by the National Assembly to scrap the senate that is mandated to draft bills to deal with the counties. 2013-06-10 .News .KBC. 21:14

“Th e sharp disagreements between the National Assembly and the Senate over the funding of county governments were today the subject of a meeting between the Ministry of Planning and Devolution on one hand and the Transitional Authority on the other.” 2013-06-16 .News .NTV. 21:16.

Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA)The Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) is an independent commission set up under Article 215 and 216 of the Constitution of Kenya. Its core mandate is to recommend the basis for equitable sharing of revenues raised nationally between the national and the county governments; and sharing of revenue among the county governments.

The Commission on Revenue Allocation is also charged with the responsibility of giving recommendations that will assist in defi ning and enhancing revenue sources for the government with the objective of encouraging fi scal responsibility and gradually enhancing self suffi ciency of the devolved government.


Print media had the highest allocation of space to CRA on devolution issues at 56% followed by radio 23% then by TV at 21%. The commission’s coverage has been covered mainly on issues to do with budgetary allocations. During the period of analysis which had much contention over the revenue bill, CRA did not drive media coverage as much as expected during the time. CRA coverage in the media was also with regards to sensitisation of people on the responsibilities of the national and county governments and how public can participate in the allocation of resources and revenue. This coverage was however limited to a specifi c period of time. “Th e Commission on Revenue Allocation wants both the National Assembly and the Senate to have nothing to do with the CDF kitty but instead only provide an oversight role…..“Th e National Assembly and Senate should disburse the constituency funds to the counties. Th e governors then should call meetings for the MPs, county representatives, women’s representatives and all stakeholders and decide on what to do. MPs should not have power or autonomy on the funds,” CRA chairman Micah Cheserem said” , 2013-06-10 .Star .By Brian Otieno

The Media Coverage of Special Topical Issues under Devolution

a. HealthHealth as one of the issues under devolution was covered by the media. 92% of the health issues covered by the media were on county governments and touched on health issues relevant to specifi c counties. For instance, some of the stories under health in the county included media reports where allocation of funds to the health sector were done at the county levels with relevant analysis and details to accompany the story.

The issues tackled under health apart from the allocation of funds to the health sector was the complaints and the opposition by health workers to have their pay totalling to 38 billion transferred to the county government. The health workers threatened to go on strike over the same. Also covered in the media includes discussions by different county leaders on how they planned to tackle challenges in the health sector in their respective counties.


The highest percentage of health coverage was in the print media with 63% and radio at 23%.The transfer of health services to the county government caused great difference between the health workers and the national government.

Budgetary allocation on health was majorly covered as governors unveiled their county budgets and detailed how they planned to improve health services. However, the media provided no forum for the public to discuss health issues related to devolution through the media.

State offi cials were the key drivers of health discussions on devolution through the media. Politicians and NGOs were given coverage on health discussions with 15% of the entire coverage accorded to them in the print media.

Members of Parliament have unanimously passed the motion that seeks to compel the government to immediately recruit 5,000 clinical offi cers and nurses to curb the acute


shortage that has hampered the health industry. Amendments were fi lled led by Ugenya legislator David Ochieng that will ensure that 2,500 lab technicians. This move may curb the planned by health workers union who were displeased about the hurried move to devolve healthcare services. 2013-06-12 .KBC .Channel 1.

The Government appears headed on a major collision course with health workers over plans to transfer Sh38 billion of their salaries and benefi ts to the County Government by July 1.Yesterday, the Kenya Progressive Nurses Association (KPNA), opposed the move and threatened to go on strike if the Government implements the proposal.Doctors, clinical offi cers and public health offi cers have also joined nurses to oppose the transfer of their salaries to the counties. Nurses comprise over 85 per cent of the health work force. 2013-06-10 .News .The Standard. By Ally Jamah

b. Infrastructure.This section of report examined how issues of infrastructure related to devolution was discussed in the media especially during the budget making process. The budgeting process of the National and county government affords an opportunity for issues like infrastructure to be discussed in the media with regards to devolution.

Print media allocated more space to coverage of infrastructure related to devolution with 64%.The coverage was divided between the National and county government. However 94% of infrastructural issues reported by the media were related to County governments. Budgetary allocation to infrastructure drove discussions over the media. Some of the discussions especially by the public were as a response to the budgetary allocations to different sectors including infrastructure.


The Star covered more Infrastructure related stories than any other newspaper 50%. Much of this coverage was in the news segment and included county wrap up stories that touched on roads, electricity, dams and even ferries at the coastal region. The Standard had 22% coverage while the Nation had 17% and lastly The People with 11%.

c. AgricultureThe agricultural sector is vital for ensuring that food security is achieved and also that it generates revenue for the Kenyans economy. Agriculture accounts for more than 74% of employment in Kenya and contributes approximately 24% of GDP in Kenya according to a food security report prepared by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (2012)

The analysis of agriculture related stories in the media reveals that 21% were on the national government while 79% were on the county level of government.

Print media had 70% coverage of all the agriculture related activities. This constitutes the highest coverage compared to the other media platforms. Discussions on the


allocation of budgets to various key sectors of the economy including agriculture led to high print media coverage of the subject.

The activities and the function of the cabinet secretary for agriculture constituted among the highest coverage during in relations to various issues and projects related to the county and National Assembly. Some of the articles analysed in this section reported on the Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Authority Bill which was in discussion before the National Assembly.

“ First, it is well known that the Constitution is not clear about all services in any sector that are to be devolved or remain at national level. The Fourth Schedule of the Constitution does not contain this level of detail. For this reason, it is necessary to clarify exactly which roles and responsibilities will be passed to each level of government in each sector, including agriculture. This should have been done before these functions were transferred, but it has been delayed. “-2013-06-16 .Star. By Hillary Biwott

Media Watchdog Reporting on Regional Balance, Ethnic Balance, Marginalised Groups and Gender Parity in Appointments

The media has covered the issue of regional balance, ethnic balance, marginalised groups and gender parity in appointments very well. Devolution of governments was a cornerstone of the 2010 Constitution.

Devolution was meant to bring about faster and more inclusive development that would cement Kenyans together. Furthermore, it is supposed to achieve an all-inclusive national building process which will translate to accountability and public participation in all levels of decision making. It is therefore worth noting that the chances of achieving these ends are highly reliant on the fi rst county leadership and representativeness to the national government.

The media covered appointment to the county and national government during the initiation of devolution. Under the new constitution, not more than two-thirds of the members of elective public bodies shall be of the same gender (Article 81 (b)). Furthermore, Article 232 (1) accords adequate and equal opportunities for both men and women in the appointment, training and advancement at all levels of public service.It is important to consider the fact that devolution is the perfect vehicle that will engineer the transformation of relation between women and men. It is anticipated that through devolution, women’s visibility in public life will increase; the voice of women in policy formulation and implementation will be enhanced; women will be facilitated to participate in and infl uence the process of determining development priorities and resource allocation for development purposes; and their capacity to participate in all levels of the county’s life will be enabled through training and sensitisation.


The number of stories that covered the issues of regional and ethnic balance, marginalised groups and gender parity in the media were very minimal. The well covered issue in the media was gender parity in the appointments of County Assembly members. The People carried a feature story on how one of the counties (Kisumu County) had achieved the issues of gender representation well enough with regards to Article 81(b).

“Taita Taveta county assembly has gone to court to stop the gazettement of the executive committee. On Tuesday, the county assembly fi led an injunction under a certifi cate of urgency at the High Court in Mombasa. Th is follows the swearing in of the county executive members by Governor John Mruttu on Monday aft er the assembly unanimously rejected the list of cabinet nominees……Th e representatives said the list lacks regional balance, gender parity and does not represent marginalised groups including the youth and disabled people. Leader of Majority Solomon Mghanga yesterday told the Star that the governor’s action was disrespectful to the representatives”. 2013-06-13 .News .Th e Star. By Raphael Mwadime

“Kisumu County is exemplary in the manner in which women have been recognised as leaders. Women clinched four senior county positions. From the Deputy Governors’ position held by Ruth Odinga to the County Assembly Speaker Ann Atieno Adul, the Deputy Speaker Pamela Omino and Kisumu County Women Representative Rose Nyamonga; Kisumu is poised to be a model of women empowerment in the devolved governance structure in Kenya. At the County Assembly, a total of 17 women are represented as bonafi de members with seven of them having been directly elected during


the General Election and 10 nominated in line with the constitutional threshold Article 81(b) of the Constitution, which stipulates that at least a third of those in public offi ces must be from either gender.” 2013-06-15 .News .Th e People.

Media Coverage of Alleged Threats against Devolution The idea of the media as the public’s eyes and ears and not merely a passive recorder of events is very relevant in the context of reporting devolution. Media reporting goes beyond what offi cials or their spokespersons say to examine government performance based on facts

Threats on devolution have been sounded by different individuals, constitutional bodies, politicians, religious bodies and even international organisations through the media. Sometimes the threats have unfortunately degenerated into a blame game in some quarters with the media being used as a platform for the verbal fi ghts. From the media analysis done, the senators have largely blamed the National Assembly and the executive for planning to sabotage the devolution process. The executive arm of government in turn has been blamed by the opposition (politicians not in the ruling coalition) for failure to abide by the constitutional and legal framework guiding devolution. Governors who have been covered by the media in their press briefi ngs through the Governor’s Council seem to side with senators on different issues with regards to threat on devolution.

The constitutional bodies including CIC and TA have been quite objective in their alarm over threats on devolution because they do so with a clarifi cation of the legal framework that guides such contentious issues that are seen to cause a threat.The analysis on the Letters to the Editor found minimal discussion by the public on threats against devolution. Most of the discussion on this was spearheaded by experts in the commentary section of the newspapers. This questions the awareness and participation of the public in defending and guarding devolution from threats that are both perceived and imagined.


The media should play a watchdog role and ensure that devolution is meticulously implemented as enshrined in the constitution. The media’s credibility as a democratic institution is enhanced if they are accountable to the public. This same credibility is also enhanced if it becomes the lenses through which threats on devolution are examined and reported for public knowledge and good

“Senators have commenced the process of scrutinising past legislations with what they consider possible areas that ‘enemies of devolution’ can capitalise on to frustrate operations of the county governments. Informed by fears that some individuals in the Executive were opposed to devolution and were keen to take advantage of existing ‘weak’ laws to undermine the authority, mandate and functions of county governments, the senators said they will overhaul all laws that are in confl ict with the devolved system.’’ 2013-06-17 . News .Th e Standard. Moses Njagih

A senate committee has warned that enacting the Division of Revenue Bill passed by the National Assembly last Th ursday without its input will imperil its existence and leave county governments vulnerable. Th e Standing Legal Aff airs and Human Rights Committee, headed by Busia Senator Amos Wako, said the move would be unconstitutional and urged Senate Speaker Ekwe Ethuro to invoke the mediation clause in the Constitution to have the standoff resolved” 2013-06-10 .News .Th e People. By Victor RabalaThe media also reported some actions by some state offi cers as a threat to devolution especially when such was done in contravention of existing legal framework, for example when the President signed the contentious Division of Revenue Bill in the form in which it was presented to him by the National Assembly without further reference to the Senate.

Analysis on Opinion Pieces in the MediaThis section analysed opinions as expressed in the print media. Three basic kinds of items appear in opinion pages: Editorials, written by newspaper staff; letters to the editor, written by readers and op-eds (Opposite the Editorials on the page), generally written by people with special expertise or credibility in a certain fi eld.According to a study done by The Earth Institute of Columbia State University (2010), the opinion pages are among the best-read sections of most publication often on par with the front page itself.

The study also notes that in addition to the general public, some of the most attentive readers of these pages are decision makers in government, corporations and non-profi t institutions. The opinion pages provide a platform for the professional and nonprofessional writer to place an issue in the public eye, or to bring his or her perspective to the news.


The expressions of opinions on devolution through the newspapers are equally vital. The three highly discusses issues in the opinions section of the newspapers included the political and administrative process (56%) and the economy (32%) with regards to the Revenue Allocation Bill and also on legislation (12%) that touched on devolution.

Space Allocation by Opinion piece Type

The Op-Ed section covered opinions highly with 39% dedication to devolution issues compared to Letters to the Editor which had 38% of opinion on devolution. The media houses in their editorial sections did not analyse devolution extensively during this period.

The opinion that was expressed by the individuals in the opinions section of the newspapers analysed were objective and tackled the issues of devolution very seriously with a touch on legislation. This was specifi cally so with the Op-Eds section where writers of opinions in this section included lawyers and other concerned state offi cers who authoritatively opined on devolution issues.

“It is improper for National Assembly and the Senate to be embroiled in supremacy battle while Kenyans are faced with a myriad of challenges. Enough is enough, Kenyans wanted to break away from the problem of a mono-cameral House hence voted for the two tier government in the name of devolution….Few months after election, Kenyans have been treated to unnecessary bickering between the two Houses with each chest thumping of being superior. If devolution thing is what has placed us in an uncalled for position and doubled Kenyans problems then to hell with it.” 2013-06-15 .Opinions .The People. By Wuod Amary, Karachuonyo


“Senate and the National Assembly, being part of the same body, Parliament, have an equal responsibility under the Constitution to ensure that devolution in all its forms is successful. The County Governments are governments of the people. They are the same persons who elected the members of both Houses. To continue to ask which is superior, is fatal to both Houses, and the country, like parts of a tree fi ghting each other. Between the roots of the tree, the stem, the branches, the leaves, its fl owers and its fruits, none is more important than the other.” 2013-06-15 .Opinions .The Standard. By Kethi Kilonzo.


SECTION THREEConclusions and RecommendationsThe media has tried in its coverage of devolution in Kenya. Challenges abound and sometimes short-comings are inevitable. The media can be good advocates of devolution by highlighting issues and challenges affecting the county.Whereas the media’s role in covering devolution is indispensable, the freedom of information is the cornerstone to good governance, meaningful participation and effi ciency in enhancing transparency at the county and even national levels of government.

The emergent issue however in relation to devolution and the media is devolving the media through the reallocation of resources as in the case of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in Great Britain. The reorganisation of new gathering process to align with devolution process is also a key issue for consideration just like it happened for BBC in the UK.

The viability of establishing and running regional newspapers that will focus on devolved units just like in Britain where some UK national newspapers had to re-brand themselves is very critical at this stage of media coverage of devolution.

However reporting on devolution has remained a balancing act among many Kenya journalists as they try to play their watchdog role in the implementation of the constitution. Already emerging are some challenges with regards to media reporting on devolution including the un-friendly manner in which county governments and assemblies leaders and offi cials operate. Local journalists based at the county levels are now complaining of intimidation and bureaucracy within the entire structure of county governments on sensitive information dissemination.

Journalists in many counties are fi nding it diffi cult to effectively cover devolved system of governments especially county assembly sessions and that there was need for them to be trained on parliamentary reporting and devolution in general.

Journalists and the media at large must adjust appropriately on how to report on devolution. The media must lay down a good framework that will ensure it surmounts the problems it faces in reporting devolution.


Recommendations• Media should give prominence to devolution issues and report professionally. The

number of stories with negative tone is course of concern. From these fi ndings, approximately 20% of news articles and clips in all media platforms covered intergovernmental relations negatively.

• Vernacular and regionally based media enterprises and journalists should be supported in content development and space on devolution issues.

• The media should ensure any threats against devolution are brought to the public limelight.

• The media should report any violations in appointment related to regional/ethnic balance, marginalised groups and gender parity.

• Media houses and editors should strengthen county editions and special programmes on the devolution process with priority given to the public so that they can voice their concerns as well on devolution.

• The media should give equal opportunity to both genders in their coverage of devolution. From this analysis it is clear that the male gender is consistently central in all the newspapers analysed. This is against the Code of Conduct for Practice of Journalism.

Who sets the Agenda on devolution in Kenya?: A focus on print media

The power of the mainstream media to set a nation’s agenda, to focus public attention on a few key public issues, is an immense and well-documented infl uence. The media’s coverage of devolution is indispensable in facilitating the establishment of systems and structures for devolution process to progress well as enshrined in the Kenyan constitution 2010.This is achieved by the media through its information and education role

It is important to understand that the agenda-setting role and infl uence of the media is not limited to the initial step of focusing public attention on devolution process alone. The media also has tremendous infl uence in the communication process which shapes our understanding and perspective of devolution.

How the media portrays devolution through its coverage is important. The heart of devolution lies in proper public communication. The media has extensively concentrated on the fact that devolution is a political process. The perception created is that devolution means nothing less than creation of expanded political space accompanied by decentralisation and done as a mere formality.


Media Agenda SettingMedia agenda setting on devolution is the deliberate coverage of topics or events related to devolution with the goal of infl uencing public opinion and public policy. The print media by fl ashy and punchy headlines, allocation of more space and even on special segment coverage can set the agenda on devolution.

From the analysis of the newspaper headlines, it is evident that the media has set the agenda by focusing on the negatives, challenges and rows on devolution.

On the front page of The People newspaper of 10th June 2013 read the headline; Wako: Mp’s tactics threat to devolution.

On the front page of The Daily Nation newspaper of 11th June 2013 read the headline; Ruto to meet county bosses over cash row.

On the front page of The Daily Nation newspaper of 12th June 2013 read the headline; Senate sues as Uhuru signs county cash law.

On the front page of The People newspaper of 10th June 2013 read the headline; Angry senators plot to call referendum.

On the front page of The Standard newspaper of 10th June 2013 read the headline; Senators dig in for a fi ght of their lives.

On the front page of The People newspaper of 14th June 2013 read the headline; Impending death of the Senate?

Public Agenda SettingIn healthy democracies, members of the public are the agenda-setters on devolution issues. This is because they understand and appreciate their role in the devolution process. Therefore they are able to steer healthy conversations and discussions on devolution through the media. In weaker democracies the mass media sets the agenda. The media directs its audience on issues it thinks are “important.” This is apparently the case with devolution. Little discussion seems to emanate from the public on devolution and the media grabs the opportunity to feed the minds of its audience with the sensational news on devolution.


Main_Subject


Valid (Other) 11 4.4 4.4 4.4Academic 2 .8 .8 5.2Business wom-an/man

12 4.8 4.8 10.0

Diplomat 1 .4 .4 10.4NGO 8 3.2 3.2 13.6Politician 24 9.6 9.6 23.2Professional Association

4 1.6 1.6 24.8

Religious Leader

1 .4 .4 25.2

State Offi cial 178 71.2 71.2 96.4Woman/man on the street

9 3.6 3.6 100.0

Total 250 100.0 100.0

From the chart above, the discussion on devolution by the ‘man/woman on the street’ is very minimal in percentage and frequency. This means that they may not be in a position to give comments on issues of devolution through the media.

Policy Agenda settingDiscussions on devolution in the media should be accompanied by high reference to policy and legal framework that guides its implementation. Policy making and implementation institution like the CIC, TA and CRA should have been at the forefront in the discussions of devolution through the media.

From the table above it is clear that state offi cials were at the forefront on discussions on devolution. State offi cers include any individual who holds state offi ce. The conversations on devolution were by the state offi cers some of who are elected or appointed based on their political inclinations.


Conclusion:State offi cers by virtue of their roles and responsibilities may have been covered extensively by the media and therefore seen as the ones setting the agenda. However, the media through the selection of stories to cover exercised its agenda setting role as well. The media should use its priming and framing abilities in the prioritisation of



devolution news in order to drive awareness and promote greater public understanding of the process especially during this time when it is being implemented.

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