Kenyan journalist at work in the midst of the violent crisis in February 2008. Photo: Anne Poulsen/IMS

Training in conflict sensitive reporting has opened the eyes of Kenyan journalists to the importance of choice of words when reporting on violent conflicts

"Ethnic cleansing". "Massacree". "Militia men". Words that Mathews Ndanyi would use when reporting for radio Kiss FM from Eldoret, scene of some of the most gruesome clashes triggered by the disputed December 27 presidential election in Kenya.

Like most other reporters, Mathews Ndanyi found himself covering a conflict in his own country for the first time in his life, and like many of his colleagues he would use the words without fully realizing their implication. That he, when talking about ethnic cleansing and massacre, might actually have contributed to further fuelling the violence that killed more than 1,000 Kenyans and displaced over 500,000.

Workshop in conflict sensitive reporting

Mathews Ndanyi was one of more than 30 Kenyan reporters who had signed up for a three day workshop on conflict sensitive journalism in Nairobi. The workshop was part of a joint rapid response mission to Kenya, coordinated and funded by International Media Support, responding to the urgent needs for safety and conflict sensitive journalism training and assessing the needs for a more long term media strategy.

The mission was carried out in close cooperation with Editors' Guild of Kenya, Kenyan Union of Journalists, Article 19, International Federation of Journalists and International News Safety Institute with the support from World Association of Newspapers and International Press Institute. It comprised three major components; a conflict sensitive journalism workshop, safety training for 75 Kenyan reporters in three locations - Nairobi, Mombassa and Kisumu - as well as a round table debate gathering some 40 key representatives of the Kenyan media community.

"Now I know better"

For Mathews Ndanyi as well as for the other participants, the conflict sensitive journalism workshop was a very important lesson. "We learned which words to apply when writing a story. Now I know better."

The closing ceremony of the workshop was attended by Dr. Bitange Ndemo, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Communications, who called the workshop an "undeniably very timely and critical training session for Kenyan journalists." He thanked the organizers for "taking responsibility to help our journalists cope with the realities of the post-election crisis and also in assisting the media to improve their skills in reporting
conflict situations. This training is critical for Kenyan journalists considering the fact that this country has never before been faced with a conflict of the magnitude we are witnessing."

Based on the recommendations and the findings gathered during the mission, International Media Support has decided to engage in a more long term strategy in support of the Kenyan media.