Kenyan journalists covering the ongoing campaigns reported that they felt safer at Azimio la Umoja candidate Raila Odinga's events as compared to those of Deputy President William Ruto.
In a report released by the Media Council of Kenya (MCK) on Wednesday, July 13, the journalists expressed discomfort after recent cases of some of them being kicked out of Ruto's functions including the party's National Delegates Convention as well as public gatherings in Njoro, Nakuru County.
The report showed that 49 per cent of journalists felt safer covering Raila than 31 per cent who would rather cover the DP. Only 17 per cent felt comfortable covering Root party’s Wajackoya.
MCK also noted that the Kenya Kwanza team publicly threatened to boycott the upcoming presidential debate organised by the Media Owner’s Association, the Kenya Editors Guild and the Media Council of Kenya.
"UDA’s senior communications team also boycotted a meeting convened by the Media Council to forge a working relationship with pollsters, editors and political party communications teams in June, opting to send junior staff.
"His supporters have sustained social media hate campaigns against established media including employing derogatory terms to define media and selected journalists," the report read in part.
MCK further revealed that the data, which was captured in the first week of July, showed that the media coverage of Kenya Kwanza had overtaken that of Azimio la Umoja, largely due to the unveiling of Ruto's manifesto.
Ruto’s media coverage volumes rose to 46 per cent against Raila’s 45 per cent. Roots Party’s George Wajackoyah came in third at 6 per cent while Agano Party’s David Mwaure received 3 per cent publicity.
"The increase in DP Ruto’s media coverage is attributed to his coalition’s manifesto launch on June 30 and the criticism it received from the opponents.
"During the period, the DP’s coalition received 14 percent mention in print media compared to Raila’s 12 per cent and 61 per cent coverage in radio against Raila’s 58 per cent. While Ruto leads in both print and radio coverage, Raila retains an edge over the DP on television coverage at 29 percent against DP Ruto’s 26 per cent," the report added.
Raila, had maintained lead in media coverage in June largely because of the unveiling of his manifesto.
The DP had earlier complained that he consistently received low coverage by some of the leading media outlets, singling out Citizen TV and NTV.
His team later threatened to boycott the Presidential debate scheduled to take place on Tuesday, July 26.
