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Flickr.com
Kenyan blogger Juliana Rotich is posting photos of the conflict to her Flickr gallery. |
Yesterday, one of the keenest observers of Africa,
Ethan Zuckerman, posted an intriguing analysis of the media coverage of the current election-related violence in Kenya. If you're covering this unfolding crisis,
Kenya: heartbreak and hope is worth a read -- especially if (like most westerners) you only tend to notice Africa when it erupts into bloodshed.
A few excerpts. First, some key context that probably should be receiving more attention in MSM reporting of the current Kenyan crisis:
"I'd planned to begin the year on an enthusiastic, positive note, suggesting that this might be the year where Africa began to catch up to the rest of the world in terms of telecommunications and where African creativity and entrepreneurialism began to be noticed on a global stage. Central to my argument was the rise of the Kenyan stock exchange, the emergence of international-caliber business process outsourcing centers in Kenya, and the completion of deals to create two or three high-speed internet cables that connect Kenya to the global Internet.
"...Kenya's a country so stable that the EU had considered not sending observers to monitor these elections, arguing that the chances of irregularities were low and that resources for African election monitoring were scarce. Yes, we're all used to irregularities in Kenyan politics... but there are creative government-monitoring efforts, a vibrant blogosphere, and an occasionally excellent (and occasionally very disappointing) free press, which all make outright theft of an election less likely than in most African states."
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Then, cautions about drawing too-easy connections to other well-known African tragedies:
"...Despite that mention of tribal affiliation in the opening graph, the Economist avoids the "reminiscent of the Rwandan genocide" theme that's rearing its head in CNN, the Guardian and other northern media outlets.
"...It may be a cause for optimism that the northern media is worried about missing another case of ethnic cleansing -- as it did for the whole Rwandan genocide, the first years of the Darfur genocide, and continues to do with ethnic violence in the DRC -- but it's also deeply frustrating to Kenyans who want a more complicated story told to the world about these elections and the tensions it has exposed."
So who's doing the best job at telling this complex story? These answers may surprise you:
"...Al Jazeera's coverage has been excellent, focusing on the government crackdown on peaceful protest, as well as on violence between civilians." (Zuckerman embedded this Al Jazeera video in his post.)
"...But the best source for news, moment to moment, has been from bloggers, who continued to report on the elections and their aftermath during a media blackout. My friend Juliana Rotich, Global Voices Online's environment editor, is in Eldoret -- where rioters burned a church sheltering people who'd sought sanctuary from violence, killing dozens of them. She's providing terse dispatches from the town, reporting on traffic at the airport, the closure of local businesses, the death of a local hero, an Olympic athlete, in political violence. Juliana, like my other friends in Kenya, are reporting using GPRS service from Safaricom and other mobile operators as connectivity has been sporadic."
So if you're on this story, even though the bullets are flying, it's important to focus not just on the bloodshed but on the background. Context is probably what will distinguish quality reporting on this conflict. Zuckerman's overview offers links to many other resources that can help you ask deeper questions.
