Press Freedom and Media's Role in Conflict and Peace Building

This research work is based on the vivid Media portrayal of the Post-2007 Election Crisis. In the arguments the thesis looks at how press freedom was used to either enhance conflict or build peace, as exemplified in the case of the 2007-2008 post election crisis in Kenya. The paper examines the role of the media as an agenda setter for human rights. This role provides a theoretical assumption of the responsibility of the media in preserving rights and freedoms. The author argues that the media agenda to promote human rights can only be achieved within an independent media, guarded by working legislations and effective monitoring systems. Evidence for analysis was gathered from interviews with Kenyan Journalists in the print and broadcast media and independent analysts drawn from the academia,media and political backgrounds.This record is also a commitment to the authors professional work as a Broadcast Journalist to link the aspect of Human Rights in Media discourses with an aim to explain how the Media can be a tool of peace even in the most turbulent of situations. Given that at the time of the crisis, she was serving as an editor , whose core role is to be a watchdog of society.