This archive report was first published on 10 July 2019.
Crime has taken center stage in Kenya's national news coverage, with a recent study by Trends and Insights For Africa (TIFA) revealing that it dominated the headlines in the last nine months.
Published on July 10, 2019, the study found that crime accounted for 11% of news coverage, followed closely by education and corruption at 5% each.
The murders of Sharon Otieno and Monica Kimani were among the most prominent crime stories, with Otieno's case still active in court and Governor Okoth Obado named as a main suspect.
ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru, who inaugurated the release of the Media Landscape Report 2019, expressed concern over the prevalence of crime in the media, describing it as '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 the media to strike a balance in their reporting, avoiding the glorification of criminal activities.
The study was conducted between October 2018 and June 2019.
