Minding the Gap? The Media and the Realisation of SDG 13 in Kenya

Abstract

The media in Africa have a role to play in the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by building awareness, setting the public agenda, and influencing and holding to account political leaders. In this chapter, we examine the problematic context of a commercialised and privatised media system playing a significant role in debates about development and in development education and advocacy-topics which are not necessarily profitable. Media can play a role as public information channels, engagement platforms, watchdogs and advocates for policy improvement-all crucial to the successful implementation of the SDGs-but media do not necessarily fulfil these obligations. With advances in technology, the power of the media to open new opportunities to drive social change and to transform development in Africa is unsurpassed. We explore how the contemporary political economy of Kenyan media challenges or supports such objectives. We also examine how information gaps concerning SDG goals, such as climate information in rural communities, pose a challenge to the realisation of the SDGs. We conduct an investigation into the form of analysis of media coverage of climate change and action in Kenya, but draw primarily from existing research concerning Kenyan media. Our findings show that the Kenyan media are ill-equipped to specifically support SDG 13 on climate change and action in the country.