Reporting Kenya

The BBC World Service Trust has produced this report on the role of the media during the recent violence in Kenya. A formal review of media in Kenya is underway by the government after allegations of hate speech from community radio raising the spectre of the role of Radio Milles Collines which instigated widespread violence during the Rwandan genocide. It has also raised questions of whether media can be too free in fragile states such as Kenya. The Trust's report

"dismisses such conclusions, and - while highlighting the abuses that did occur - argues that the crisis demonstrates that a free and plural media are as much an answer to Kenya's democratic deficit as they are a problem. It argues that the role of the local language media during the crisis was the product of a chaotic regulatory policy and the lack of training - especially of talk show hosts, whose programmes provided the platform for most of the hate speech. It argues that many local language radio played a role in calming tensions as well as inflaming them, and could be a powerful mechanism for reconciliation."

It's one of a number of reports looking at the role of the Media during the unrest.