July 2008

Reporting for Peace in Kenya’s Fragile Democracy

Six months after post-election violence and ethnic conflict gripped Kenya, journalists and radio presenters throughout Kenya are courageously embracing the role of educators and even peacemakers, by reporting and airing news that humanizes "the enemy" and opens minds.

• Mission Possible: After the Violence, Kenyan Journalists Learn to Become Presenters for Peace
• A Radio Station in the Center of Conflict Spreads a Message of Hope
• Enough: Life Inside the Camps of Kenya
• Kenyan Media and the Futility of Restrictions

Mission Possible

After the Violence, Kenyan Journalists Learn to Become Presenters for Peace

This year, Internews has worked with more than half of the radio stations in Kenya on covering the political and social crisis.

Read a full report (PDF) of the Mission Possible training and Internews-sponsored roundtables. At these well-attended meetings, journalists shared their challenges in covering the stories of ethnic conflict and corruption - and the inspiration they have received from each other and from Internews training to report on the issues that matter to their audiences.

A Radio Station in the Center of Conflict Spreads a Message of Hope

Pamoja ("Together") FM, located in Kibera, Kenya’s largest urban slum, faced an onslaught of ethnic violence immediately following the election results. In this audio slideshow, produced by journalist and Internews trainer Benjamin Chesterton, members of the station talk about the shock they felt in witnessing their community erupt in violence overnight, and how they see their role in bringing the community back together.

Enough: Life Inside the Camps of Kenya

Two additional audio slideshows from Kenya - Praying for the Rain Not to Come and Enough: Voices of the Displaced - show glimpses of the desperate situations inside Kenya’s camps for displaced persons. These low-tech but emotionally powerful productions were made as part of an Internews training exercise and used in Mission Possible trainings. They challenged attitudes within community radio stations about what was really going on outside the studio walls. (View slideshows)

Kenyan Media and the Futility of Restrictions

For deeper analysis of the Kenyan media’s role in post-election violence and the restrictions that the Kenyan government placed on local media during the crisis, read a blog post by Global Voices Executive Director Ivan Sigal, a former Internews Regional Director.