The Relationship Between Journalist Orientation, Newsroom Politics and Journalist Attitudes Towards the Crisis Over Reviewing the Constitution in Kenya

Abstract

Since the onset of democratic reform in the 1990's, it has been fashionable to provide parallels between the health of journalism and the fortunes of democracy During this period too, journalism in Africa has witnessed a clash in professional values relating to how the press should conduct itself in the face of democratiza- tion. This study sought to provide some light on these issues through establishing the professional orientations of journalists and exploring the relationship between these orientations and journalist framing of the crisis of democratization in Kenya Additionally the study sought to find out how journalist value orientations have interacted with news house policies regarding the crisis. The study sought to establish whether there were distinct journalist orientations undergirding professional journalist belief systems and journalist framing of the crisis over constitutional reform. This later was to be determined as a measure of journalist attitude towards the call for constitutional reform itself, and the major protagonists in the crisis on constitutional reform including the government, ma- jor parliamentary political parties, civil society, the religious sector, the general public, media handling and framing of the constitutional reforms. The study also sought to establish the various experiences of journalists with regard to the orga- nizing of value positions within the newsroom. To achieve the first objective, journalist responses were sought on statements pertaining the role orientation of journalists. In pursuit of the second, journalist responses were sought from statements appertaining to journalists' attitudes to- wards the core issue of constitutional reform and the principal players in the crisis on constitutional reform. Thirdly, responses were sought from interviews with journalists to get life stories about their value inclinations and how these manifest themselves in their work. Data for the first and second objective was obtained from journalist responses to questionnaires distributed across five news organizations in Nairobi and other major provincial capitals. A factor analysis of the responses was to be performed to determine the various journalist belief orientations and attitudes.