There is no doubt that
the upcoming March 2013 elections will be a watershed in the history of Kenya’s
political-economy. This is why the media ought to prepare thoroughly for
accurate and objective coverage.
It is well known that
elections are good news for the media anywhere in the world by virtue of the
many competing interests that the media is simply spoilt for choices regarding
what to report. However, history has revealed that reporting elections in Africa
should be done with caution to avoid electoral chaos.
I need not remind you
of what happened in 2007 shortly after the national media televised Samuel
Kivuitu announcing results of a disputed poll under pressure. This should not
be the case in March this year. Amidst the election euphoria, hyped by the local
and international media, there are possibilities of meddling with the message.
Should the media be
responsible for announcing unofficial election results in different polling stations
in real time? My conviction is that the burden of announcing electoral results should
rest with the Interim Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC). However, the media shoulders some of it since it ought to
broadcast preliminary results from different polling stations in the spirit of electoral
transparency – It is a twin burden.
In established
democracies like the USA, the media has been accurately projecting winners and
losers through unofficial results that stream live in newsrooms from various
national polling stations, therefore, giving the process credibility.
Projection is possible
in the USA because the media invests highly in technology. Besides that, there
is minimum ideological polarization among competing political parties and above
all, journalists are institutionalized to recognize the importance of national
elections. They are guided by the spirit of patriotism that ensures they
maintain high levels of professionalism when reporting electoral issues.
The Kenyan scenario is
different mainly due to multiple ‘ideological’ polarizations among political
parties, and perhaps even lack of ideology, which makes it difficult for the
electorate to distinguish competing political aspirants beyond their
personalities.
This reality makes it
tricky for the Kenyan media to track politics based on issues by virtue of the
many non-issues competing for attention. Therefore, the media tends to focus on
political personalities and in the process, risks the danger of ethnic arithmetic.
So how should the Kenyan media cover the upcoming elections?
It must take the
patriotic lead in order to set the agenda for the international media. This
means that if it is to release preliminary unofficial results of the election,
then it should uphold professionalism to ensure its numbers dovetail with those
of the IEBC. The local media and the IEBC must work in tandem to ensure
electoral news is treated carefully. This demands a radical departure from “if
it bleeds it leads” western journalistic mentality.
Televising the elections
live might be good since voting often put people under pressure to know results.
This is why BVR kits should not be taken for granted. They can speed up efforts
to release results from multiple polling stations nationally to help wanainchi offload anticipation
pressures. Is the local media well prepared for this?
Well, the IEBC has been
under pressure to publicly state how well prepared it is to conduct the
upcoming elections. Our media should be subjected to the same measure of
scrutiny. It must begin telling us how it will ensure the upcoming elections
are successful.
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