Old Habits, New Realities: Digital Newsrooms in Kenyan Commercial Media Houses

Abstract

This article addresses digital cultures within the context of the fluid association between the media and the state in the African post-colony. Based on the premise that news organisations construct and disseminate knowledge, the article applies field theory in analysing observed and inferred practices at a radio station and journalism school in Kenya. The article finds that journalism curricula rely on predefined, non-contextualised norms and are yet to fully incorporate digital technologies. Additionally, there is a hybridisation of traditional and newer approaches in training, organisational structures and narrative forms in the Kenyan media landscape. But traditional sourcing cultures are retained, as is the engagement with audiences as consumers, rather than co-producers, of news.