From Kenya to the US: How New Technologies are Changing the Coverage of Elections and Beyond

From Kenya to the US: How New Technologies are Changing the Coverage of Elections and Beyond

Guy Collender, Communications Officer, London International Development Centre

Charlie Matthews, Events Coordinator Institute of Development Studies

Fragile States and the Media: A Research Dialogue Across DisciplineSymposium

Stanmer House, Brighton, January 16 2009

Overview

Background- New media response to Kenyan post-election violence (Real-time, web-based platform Ushahidi .com, blogs, text messages) - Wiki created and discussed at OUR Media 7 conferenceBeyond Kenya- Impact of Kenyan experience- Ushahidi platform used in South Africa, DRC, Gaza- Other examples of new media tools worldwide (Ethiopia, US)Characteristics of the new media - Advantages/disadvantages - How the new media increasingly drive the news agenda Contributing to the Wiki

Kenyan context: Ballot boxes and killings

Disputed election- Mwai Kibaki (Party of National Unity) and Raila Odinga (Orange Democratic Movement) both claim victory after election on 27 December 2007. Kibaki sworn in on 30 December.Violence- 1,000 killed, and 600,000 displaced in riots and disturbances during next six weeks. Mob torches a church near Eldoret, killing about 30 villagersDiplomacy- Ghanaian President John Kufuor, ex-UN Secretary General Kofi Annan mediate between parties and power-sharing deal agreed on 28 February 2008Today’s politicking- Fractious coalition, claims of Ministry of Agriculture cartels

Ushahidi.com : Crowdsourcing Crisis Information

Bloggers shared ideas and expertise to create Ushahidi (‘testimony’ in Swahili) mashupReal-time, map-based view of incidents: Riots, deaths, rapeSubmissions via email/texts, verification with local NGOs

Diverse perspectives from the blogosphere

Personal, distraught - Kenyan blogger ‘Ritch’: ‘I am hurting inside …

Personal, unconcerned - ‘Africa Expat Wives Club’: Life continues ‘largely as before’

African dimension- Ghanaian blogger ‘paa.kwesi’: ‘Kenya debacle is a prime example of what the lack of a continent-wide defence force leads to.’

Campaigning perspective- Kenyans for Justice – Get Involved , Do Something: Calls for sanctions, letters to MPs, press coverage

Text messages spark rumours

Research by Michelle Osborn, Oxford University , - (2008) Fuelling the flames: Rumour and politics in Kibera, Journal of Eastern African Studies, 2.2: 315-327 Typical text messages:

- Alert! Mungiki r hitting back n slaughtering our pple.

- Mungiki terror gang plan massacre by night raids

Mobile phones used as a “weapon of war” (Bangre) Power of rumour – Rumours were frequently perceived as truths in Kibera, while government or media accounts of events were dismissed as propaganda (Osborn)

Beyond Kenya: Growth of Ushahidi platform

Platform used to map xenophobic attacks in South Africa (May 2008), violence in DRC (Nov 2008) , war in Gaza (Dec-Jan 2008)

The US election and new media

Twitter Vote ReportVoter Supression WikiComparisons to traditional methodsOther countries, similar methods: Mumbai terror attacks, Athens youth protests

Characteristics of new media

Dynamic- Advantage: Aggregate information in new ways – Ushahidi.com- Disadvantage: Technology for its own sake or for a purpose ? – questionable value of some Facebook applicationsGlobal reach - Advantage: Accessible to internet users worldwide, circumvents censorship- Disadvantage: Exacerbates the inequalities of the digital divide Speed and anonymity- Advantage: Capable of providing real-time news, easy and quick to upload/access information, - Disadvantage: Unchecked, unfiltered

Contributing to the Wiki

Become a member of the Eldis Community http://community.eldis.org/

Visit the Wiki Workshop: Gathering Perspectives on the 2007 Kenyan Elections and Their Aftermathhttp://community.eldis.org/.59b7f1a0/Wiki/ - Perspectives from Kenya, Ghana, UK, OUR Media workshop, conflict sensitive journalism

Follow instructions online

The end

IMS Workshop in Kenya on Conflict Sensitive Journalism. Photo: Anne Poulsen/IMS

Contacts

Guy Collender

[email protected]

020 7958 8260 ; www.lidc.org.uk

Charlie Matthews

[email protected]

01273 915 640 ; www.ids.ac.uk