This paper argues that the media occupy a central role in the advancement of democracy and should be upheld as an institution that protect democracy. The paper cites the role the Kenyan media played in the election crisis, acknowledging its success but at the same time questioning its failure to protect various aspects of democracy such as the election process. This it does by mentioning the work of various Kenyan journalists who criticised the election process through the media. The paper uses the ideal concept of democratic thought as conceptualised by the German philosopher Jürgen Habermas to examine clinically democracy in Africa and propose an alternative system of human relations as presented by the Ghanaian thinker Stephen Appiah to indicate a move to a more egalitarian society that still recognises liberal ideals.
The Role of the Kenyan Media in the 2007 Elections
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Journal of African Elections