The Influence of Journalists’ Remuneration and Trauma on News Content in Kenya

Abstract

Salary delays for journalists across the globe are a menace that has hurt the media industry for decades. In Kenya, for example, some journalists go for up to a year without pay. The situation is so dire that, at times, they spend their nights in offices due to rent arrears at home and even contemplate suicide. This has led to increasing cases of mental ill-health among journalists, forcing some to down their tools, others to resort to brown-envelope journalism, while some female journalists engage in prostitution and other unprofessional actsKeywords: Patriarchy, oppression, resistance, radical feminism, male dominance, domestic labour, gender oppression, marriage. These behaviours have greatly affected the way journalists cover events and have significantly influenced the news content presented to audiences. Many studies have been conducted in this area; however, the majority of the research discusses violence, conflicts, death scenes, and protests as the main causes of mental torture and trauma among journalists, while the psychological impact of salary delays remains under-researched. This study aimed to fill that gap by assessing the extent of salary delays among journalists in Kenya, examining their effects on journalists’ mental health, and determining their impact on news content. The study used a descriptive survey research design in which an Explanatory Sequential Mixed Methods approach was utilized for data collection. For the quantitative phase, 180 questionnaires were randomly distributed to journalists working for the Standard Group, Mediamax, and the Radio Africa Group. For the qualitative phase, 20 key informants drawn from media stakeholders and health experts were purposively interviewed using a Computer-Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) survey. The study was grounded in Albert Bandura’s Cognitive Social Theory, developed in the 1960s. The study found that Kenyan journalists face grave salary delays, leading to mental ill-health among those struggling to cope with the situation. Finally, the circumstances have negatively impacted news content. Therefore, newsrooms should develop stronger policies on human resources, as well as economic and health welfare, as this will enhance performance and therefore promote democracy and social justice in society.