Six months after post-election ethnic violence hit Kenya in December 2007, journalists and radio announcers throughout Kenya began embracing the role of educators—and even peacemakers—by reporting and airing news that humanizes “the enemy” and opens minds.

Nearly 1,500 people were killed and over a half million displaced during the violence. While some local media aggravated inter-ethnic tensions, many other journalists tried to raise Kenyan media professionalism to cover the crisis constructively.

USAID responded by supporting a new media assistance program, Support of Conflict Mitigation, Peace and Reconciliation, carried out by Internews.

Since January 2008, this program has provided rapid training and other production support to half of all radio stations in the country, setting off a dialogue on the role of the media in conflict.

Training focused on station managers, news teams, and broadcaster skills. Stations were prepared to handle conflicts and to promote peace in their regions.

Reporters at two radio stations, in Eldoret and Kibera, discovered journalistic skills and confidence to cover the tense situations and conflicts after having been stymied earlier in their ability to report during the height of the postelectoral crisis. Other radio journalists followed their lead.

The project also gathered journalists and editors throughout the country in frank roundtable discussions about deficiencies in the media and how to raise the industry’s professionalism.

During one roundtable, a displaced victim of the election violence, Peter Kariuki, recounted how he was evicted from his home because he was married to a woman from a different tribe. He was forced to hide in a bore hole for two days while his neighbors sought to kill him. After Kariuki spoke to the gathered radio journalists, nine radio stations invited him to be a live guest on their shows—the first time an internally displaced person was featured on Kenyan radio programs.

One breakfast show host said listeners were at first aggressive toward Kariuki because of his ethnicity. But Kariuki showed remarkable calmness, and soon listeners began calling in with ideas about how to resolve the conflict.

Most remarkably, Kariuki was invited to appear on the breakfast show of KASS FM, which broadcasts to the Kalenjin community and has, in the past, been accused of propagating ethnic hatred. For over two hours he took calls from people from the same community that had displaced him.

Mitch Odero, inaugural chair of the Media Council of Kenya, said: “The national consciousness was raised by the voice of the victims represented by Peter. It caused many of us to [examine] our collective guilt.”

This information was adapted from news releases on www. internews.org. Visit this Web site for more updates on the USAID/ Internews program in Kenya.

Original article in USAID Frontlines - September 2009