NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 10 – Crime received the most news coverage in the last nine months according to a survey by the Trends and Insights For Africa (TIFA) published on Wednesday.
According to the study, during this period, crime dominated news coverage at 11 per cent followed by education and corruption with a rating of 5 per cent each.
The murders of Sharon Otieno and Monica Kimani were the most prominent crime stories followed by those of Caroline Mwatha and Ivy Wangeci.
Migori Governor Okoth Obado is one of the main suspects in Otieno’s murder case that is still active in court.
Otieno who was about seven months pregnant was killed and her body dumped in a thicket in Rongo.
She was a student at Rongo University.
Kimani, a businesswoman, was killed in her house in Kilimani, Nairobi.
TV Journalist Jackline Maribe and her ex-fiancé Joseph Irungu are facing murder trial with regards to the case.
The body of Caroline Mwatha, a former human rights activist, was found at city mortuary after she went missing.
An autopsy later confirmed that she died from a botched abortion.
Ivy Wangeci, a Moi University Medical student, was axed by a man believed to be her boyfriend.
The Riverside Drive terrorist attack in January also classified as crime, received significant media coverage.
ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru who inaugurated the release of the Media Landscape Report 2019 at a Nairobi hotel, raised concern over the manner in which media is giving prominence to crime saying it is depressing.
“An area that has continued to be a concern, prior to the handshake, politics used to be the key driver but unfortunately that has changed now, and crime has become the key driver. I was watching news last night I will not say which channel and the first six stories were all crime I mean how do you even advertise amidst all that depression?” Mucheru wondered.
He called on media to ensure that the stories they report about do not only focus on crime to avoid glorifying criminal activities in the country.
The research was conducted between October 2018 and June 2019.
