TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION i
APPROVAL II
DEDICATION III
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT IV
TABLE OF CONTENTS V
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES Ix
LIST OF ACRONYMS x
ABSTRACT XI
CHAPTER ONE I
INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 BACKGRoUND OF THE STUDY 1
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM 2
1.3 OBJECTIvES 3
1.3.1 General Objective 3
1.3.2 Specific Objectives 3
1.4 RESEARcH QUESTIONS 3
1.6 SCOPE OF STUDY 4
CHAPTER TWO 5
LITERATURE REVIEW 5
2.0 INTRODUCTION 5
2.1 MEDIA CONTENT AND ITS IMPACT ON AUDIENCES 5
2.2 MEDIA OWNERSHIP AND ITS INFLUENCE ON CONTENT PRODUCTION 8
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2.2.1 Who owns the media9 9
2.2.2 Cross-media ownership 10
2.2.3 Media Law in Kenya 12
2.3 PRoFIT MAXIMIZATION AND MEDIA CONTENT 13
CHAPTER THREE 16
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 16
3.0 INTRoDuCTIoN 16
3.1 REsEARCH DESIGN 16
3.2 AREA OF STUDY 16
3.3 THE STUDY POPULATION 16
3.4 SAMPLE FRAMEWORK 17
3.5 DATA COLLECTION 17
3.5.1 Questionnaires 17
3.5.2 Interview 18
3.5.3 Observations 18
3.6 DATA ANALYSIS 18
CHAPTER FOUR 19
PRESENTATION OF FINDINGS INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS 19
4.0 INTRoDuCTION 19
4.1 SECTION ONE: BACKGROUND INFORMATION 19
4.2 To EXAMINE THE EXTENT TO WHICH MEDIA OWNERS AND EXTERNAL FORCE INFLUENCE
THE DAILY OPERATIONS OF MEDIA ORGANIZATIONS 22
4.2.1 How media owners and external forces influence media operations 22
4.2.2 To find out whether other forces like government and advertisers influence media
operations 24
4.3 To FIND OUT HOW PROFIT MAXIMIZATION MOTIVES OF MEDIA CORPORATIONS AFFECT THE
QUALITY OF CONTENT PRODUCED 25
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4.4 TO ESTABLISH THE MAGNITUDE AT WHICH MEDIA CONTENT IMPACTS ON THE AUDIENCE. 27
4.5 WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON MEDIA OWNERSHIP IN KENYA? 29
CHAPTER FIVE 30
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 30
5.0 INTRODUCTION 30
5.1 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 30
5.2 RECOMMENDATIoNS 31
REFERENCES 33
APPENDICES 35
APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE 1 35
QUESTIONNAIRE 2 37
APPENDIXB 39
INTERVIEW GUIDE 39
APPENDIX C 40
TIME SCHEDULE OF THE STUDY 40
APPENDIX 41
BUDGET OF THE STUDY 41
ABSTRACT Media has in the recent past continued to shape audience opinion on political, social and economic matters in the society. The media, especially television influence its viewers on many decisions they make in day to day. Ay operations. Behind this media decisions are media owners’ influence on the content produced and disseminated. This being the case, this research was conducted to find out what extent media owners did influence the kind content produced by their media outlets. The study emphasized on the role of television owners’ influence on content produced and how external forces like advertisers and government also affected content. The study also aimed at finding out if profit maximization motives of media did affect quality of media content and if this did wield an impact on the audiences that consumed it. Having employed both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection, where 220 respondents (200 at starehe, nairobi and 20 from citizen tv) participated, it was found out that media owners and external forces did have a huge influence on the content produced. It was also established that profit maximization was not the top priority of media organizations rather it was informing audiences that came top but as a means to maximizing profits and media content did have an impact on audiences. Following the findings, it was recommended that laws be put in place by the government to reduce and control all forms of cross and chain media ownership. It was further recommended that professionalism in media industry be improved by discouraging non-media professionals from venturing into the industry and the media council of kenya and kuj ensuring codes of ethics were followed by journalists and media owners. Finally, foreign content disseminated by the local media be regulated and encourage local content to preserve Kenyan cultural diversity.
