The Political Economy of the Media in Kenya: From Kenyatta's Nation-Building Press to
Kibaki's Local-Language FM Radio

Research on Political Economy of Media: At the news ahead of elections for the governor of Banten in 2017 by Radar Banten and Baraya TV, phenomenon triggered by the loosening of the values of objectivity and independence of the mass media in carrying out its functions as set in the Press Law and the Broadcasting Law. At the time of the campaign, the candidates for governor and lieutenant governor are competing to get the “place ‘and is known well as sell to prospective election promise to get sympathy. At the time, the media seemed to forget the function and position. This study aims to determine the phenomenon of media relations with the candidates and how the phenomenon of the political economy of media in both institutions (Radar Banten and Baraya Pos) at the time before the election for governor of Banten in 2017. This study uses this study used a qualitative approach, with the constructivist paradigm and using the method of data collection through the depth-interview, the informant was elected. The results of the study illustrate that media relations (relations between) media with prospective relatively loose, drawn from observations and interviews show that the two media are “very affectionate” with the candidates, and the media policy in lifting more headlines have suggested the economic interests vis a vis political interests.

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Re-Engaging Critical Communication Studies With Social Classes

Advances in Wireless Technologies and Telecommunication - Handbook of Research on the Political Economy of Communications and Media ◽

10.4018/978-1-7998-3270-6.ch005 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 78-97

Author(s):

Gökhan Bulut

Keyword(s):

Political Economy ◽

Class Struggle ◽

Capitalist Society ◽

Social Classes ◽

Homogeneous Structure ◽

The Political ◽

Class Relations ◽

The Media ◽

Communication Practices ◽

The Relationship

This article is an attempt to reestablish the linkage of the political economy of communication with the field of social classes and class relations. Studies in the field of political economy of communication are mostly shaped within the scope of instrumentalist explanation: Social communication institutions such as communication and media are perceived as a very homogeneous structure and these institutions are directly considered as the apparatus of capital and capitalists. However, in this study, it is argued that in capitalist societies, communication, and media should be understood as a field and medium of class struggle loaded with contradictions. Another point is that the political economy of communication is mostly limited to media studies. However, in today's capitalist societies, the media is not the only structure and actor in which communication forms. In this study, communication practices in capitalist society are discussed in the context of class discussions and the relationship between class struggle, culture and communication is discussed.

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Election reporting and githerinization of Kenya’s media

Journal of African Media Studies ◽

10.1386/jams_00023_1 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 255-266 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Wilson Ugangu

Keyword(s):

Political Economy ◽

Political Communication ◽

Theoretical Perspective ◽

Political Campaigns ◽

The Political ◽

Private Ownership ◽

The Media ◽

Media Politics ◽

The Relationship

Kenya’s media landscape has greatly transformed since the reforms of the 1990s, resulting in increased private ownership of media. The relationship between the media, politics and the citizen has been the most affected by these transformations. Using examples from Kenya’s 2017 elections, this article attempts to show how this relationship has changed and the opportunities and challenges for modern political communication. This article argues that although new trends in political communication have resulted in complex and dynamic political campaigns, they have also resulted in the atomization and alienation of the citizen in the democratic enterprise. This analysis is made against the backdrop of the political economy of the media theoretical perspective and, to an extent, emerging literature on media and globalization and attendant forces on the Kenyan society in general.

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The political economy of the media in the Somali conflict

Review of African Political Economy ◽

10.1080/03056244.2015.1048795 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 43 (147) ◽

pp. 43-57 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Nicole Stremlau ◽

Emanuele Fantini ◽

Ridwan M. Osman

Keyword(s):

Political Economy ◽

The Political ◽

The Media

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Developmentalism

10.1093/oso/9780198785798.001.0001 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Graham Harrison

Keyword(s):

Political Economy ◽

Poverty Reduction ◽

Nation Building ◽

The Political ◽

Capitalist Development ◽

State Action ◽

Material Life ◽

Authoritarian State ◽

Norms And Values ◽

Political Norms

When we talk about development, we are talking about capitalist development. Taking a historical-comparativ e approach, Harrison understands development as a transformation which involves a deep and integrated political economy of change: a shift from a state of ‘capital-ascendance’ to ‘capital-dominance’. It is only through a transformation towards capital dominance that mass poverty reduction and the construction of a commonwealth are possible. However, capitalist development is extremely difficult and requires a highly exacting political endeavour. The politics of development is conceptualized as developmentalism: a strategy and ideology in which governments exercise heavy directive power, endure instability and crisis, and secure a rudimentary legitimacy for their efforts. The political exertions required to generate and sustain a developmentalist strategy are too great to be met by the simple desire to develop. Harrison argues that developmentalism requires a conflation of successful capitalist transformation with some form of existential insecurity of the state itself. Developmentalism flourishes when capitalist transformation connects to profound questions of sovereignty, statehood, nation-building, and elite survival. Authoritarian state action is intrinsic to developmentalism, which the book addresses by adapting a realist approach to politics in which political norms and values are generated within the agonies of suffering and benefit generated by an ascending capital. Taking case studies from the last 250 years, Developmentalism shows the deep contextualization of capitalist transformation as well as the massive improvements in material life that it has generated.

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