Media ethics in the Kenyan media?: Understanding the disconnect between the classroom and practice

Abstract

The media in Kenya are increasingly criticised for their one-sided reporting, sleasy tabloid style of pornographic content, and control by the businessinterests of proprietors and advertisers. Yet nearly all of the staff of Kenyan media are now graduates of university programmes stressing media ethics and a large percentage are graduates of media degrees from confessional, Christian universities which place a high priority on forming professionals of personal integrity and ethical practice. To discoverthe causes of this disconnect between strong ethical formation and weak ethical practice, this study interviewed 85 graduates of Christian universities working in the Kenyan media. These graduates report that they appreciate the attempts to give them a solid ethical foundation but that in the pressures to get and maintain employment in the Kenyan media it is often impossible to carry out the ethical principles they learned in the classroom. This article makes recommedations for improved teaching of ethics, especially in confessional, Christian media training programmes.