Media and the promotion of the national interest: Case of the Kenya-Somalia maritime border dispute

Background: The role of media has been studied in various conflict situations. Majority of studies have been keen on the role of media in conflict resolution and informing policy during conflict situation leaving out an important element on the media and promotion of national interest during international conflict. The current study aimed at investigating the role of media in promoting national interest in international conflict focusing on the maritime dispute between Kenya and Somalia maritime dispute. The study sought to address four research objectives: to determine the place of media in the national interest in the global discourse: to evaluate the role of media in the promotion of national interests in Africa: to compare the media discourse in Kenya with that of Somali on maritime conflict and to determine the place of the media in the promotion of national interests in Kenya's Somali maritime border dispute. Methods: This study adopted explorative research design based on mixed methods. The approach was deemed appropriate for collecting important data and information relating to the study considering the area of research was new and had not been previously explored in research. The use of mixed methods was deemed appropriate at it enabled the concurrent triangulation of the data relating to the study. Through comparing the qualitative and quantitative data the study was able to determine the areas of convergence and divergence of the study this enabled the researcher to fill the various gaps in the study. Results: Majority of the study participants acknowledged that media played a role in promoting national interest during the conflict (77.8%). The study also established that the most interactable media in the topic was television. Majority of the respondents acknowledge that the media played an important role in promoting national interest through agenda-setting, issue salience and by reporting on the conflict with responsibility and caution so as not to propagate the issue further. Conclusion: The study concluded that media plays an important role in advancing a country's national interest. While in countries like Kenya the media landscape is advanced and there is a level of media independence. In the Somalia context the media practitioners' actions can be influenced by the regulatory authorities who might call for the need for issues and certain agenda to be advanced. Besides, the media plays a role in promoting national interest through agenda setting, issue salience and reporting responsibly during conflict situations to avoid escalating the conflict even further. The study also indicated that the Somalia media was more accusatory compared to Kenyan media that provided platform for effective debates and shaping of the opinion of the major players in the media practice.