Social Representations of the 2011 Kenyan- Related ICC Court Proceedings by Mainstream Kenyan Print Media

Abstract

The media play a central role in disseminating information with the aim of creating awareness of topical issues, including legal issues. Various studies have established that news from the media is a popular source of information on current events. Similarly, the public’s knowledge, beliefs and attitudes towards legal systems are largely shaped by the media information they receive, thus, the need for examining the content and nature of information being disseminated by the media. Correspondingly, the Social Representation Theory (SRT) offers a framework for studying how the media communicates about issues through the mechanisms of objectification and anchoring, with the aim of creating awareness and promoting understanding. It is against this backdrop that this study examined how two leading Kenyan newspapers used elements of objectification and anchoring to represent the ICC process involving six Kenyans accused of being key perpetrators of the 2007/08 Post-Election Violence. Guided by the tenets of the SRT, this study used an analytical research design to identify and describe elements of objectification and anchoring used in the coverage of the Kenyan ICC confirmation of charges hearing proceedings by the two leading daily newspapers in the country: Daily Nation and The Standard. It was established that the newspapers used various elements of representation that were fused with ideological undertones and sensationally designed to arouse emotional reactions in readers, especially when the ICC process was represented as an aggressive struggle or war between the prosecution team and the Kenyans who were facing charges at the court.