ABSTRACT

Content-analysing 2794 news stories in four national newspapers, the present study examines variables that predicted the coverage of 47 county governors between 2013 and 2017—the first term of Kenya’s devolved system of governance. Findings show that variables related to coverage as a “mirror of political reality” are the main predictors of the governors’ visibility in the newspapers news. To be specific, commenting on the topics of devolution and corruption are the strongest predictors, followed by criticizing the national government. County size (an institutional characteristic related to coverage based on news values) is also a predictor, although not as strong as devolution, corruption and criticizing the central government.

摘要

本研究分析了四家全国性报纸上的 2794 篇新闻报道，研究了预测 2013 年至 2017 年期间 47 位县长的报道的变量——这是肯尼亚权力下放治理体系的第一个任期。调查结果表明，与作为“政治现实的镜子”的报道相关的变量是州长在报纸新闻中知名度的主要预测因素。具体来说，对权力下​​放和腐败的话题发表评论是最强的预测因素，其次是批评中央政府。县域规模（与基于新闻价值的报道相关的制度特征）也是一个预测因素，尽管不如权力下放、腐败和批评中央政府强。