Journalism Adjunct Publishes Research on Television Stations Switch off during Odingas Swearing-In

By Kioko Ireri

Journalism adjunct faculty Daniel Mule has published a research paper on Kenya television stations switch off during the “swearing-in” of Raila Odinga on January 30th, 2018. The paper is titled The Alternative Platform: Kenya’s Television Stations Navigation During the Switch Off of Raila Odinga’s “Swearing-In”.
Using the government ban of selected television stations in Kenya during and after the symbolic “swearing-in” of opposition presidential candidate in the 2017 general election, the study investigates the influence of communication technologies by the affected TV channels to circumvent government crackdown.
The findings of the study revealed that throughout the switch off period the newsrooms remained operational but forced to develop alternative strategies fundamentally buoyed by new media technologies to disseminate contents.
Though the strategies produced unintended and unexpected effects as the findings indicated. The main challenge with technology, was news verification, since the stations were using guerrilla tactics to source news which was not easily forthcoming. In addition, there was economic implication, some advertisers demanded for a refund and potential advertisers refused to patronize the stations which according to one of the editors was hinged on fear of being targeted by government.
Mule has co-authored the paper with John-Bell Okeyo, Ruth Aoko Owino and Laura Anyasi all from Daystar University where he is a doctoral student. He joined the Department of Journalism and Corporate Communication as an adjunct faculty in Fall 2018. He is a news anchor and reporter for NTV.

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