Assessing the Digital-Analogue Ideological Positioning of the Jubilee Coalition.

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess the digital-analogue ideological positioning of the jubilee coalition. Lakoff’s (1993) Conceptual Metaphor Theory was the guiding principle to this study for it hoists metaphor above its linguistic value to consider the conceptual property on which this study is founded. This study adopted an interpretative research design targeting all the telecast campaign coverage between 24th December 2012 and 1st March 2013. The video clips as well as the FGD participants were purposively sampled in terms of specific relevance to the objective of this study. The study made use of video method of data collection as well as FGDs. The video clips used in this study were sought from the mainstream TV channels namely Citizen TV of Royal Media Services (RMS), Kenya Television Network (KTN) of Standard Group (SG) and Nation Television (NTV) of Nation Media Group (NMG). The clips were transcribed and then interpreted for their conceptual relevance to the digital-analogue metaphor. This study established that the digital alagoue Metaphor summarized the ideological incline that characterised their campaign discourse which in turn accorded them a favourable attitude from the voter. It was clear that majority of the voters were influenced by the ideology pedalled in the digital-analogue narrative. The study recommended that there should be a critical evaluation of campaign discourse for the public to decide based on deliberative and substantive policies from those seeking elective positions.