Framing Faith and Fear: Muslim Religious Scholars Perspectives on Media Representation of Terrorism in Kenya

Abstract

This study investigated the perceptions of Muslim religious scholars on media representation of terrorism in Kenya. Kenya presents a unique context for the study because of its diverse religious landscape, its specific experiences with terrorism and upsurge of digital platforms for news dissemination. Muslim scholars in Kenya, therefore, play a critical role within Muslim communities as they look after their congregation. The phenomenological theory was used as a framework for the study. The study found that there was a general perception among Muslim religious scholars that media representation of terrorism was biased towards the Muslim population. The scholars are of the view that Muslims were labelled as terrorists, terrorism sponsors or sympathizers. As a result, the religious scholars had become reluctant to consume Kenyan media products, and some of them had disconnected from various media platforms. There is need for guidelines and policies that recognize the place and the sensitivities of the Muslim population in terrorism reporting in Kenya to improve media representation of terrorism, and as well as differentiating between Islam and terrorism, as part of the guidelines, and training journalists on their implementation