Beyond Technological Optimism: Why Legacy and Digital Journalism Converge in Protest Coverage
Article / Journal
Author(s) / editor(s):
Osman Osman
Year: 2026
Language(s): English
Abstract:
he study investigates whether digital‑native news outlets frame political crises differently from legacy‑affiliated media. Comparing coverage of Kenya’s 2024 anti‑Finance Bill protests by Citizen Digital (legacy‑affiliated) and Kenyans.co.ke (digital‑native), it qualitatively analyses 100 articles from each outlet. It identifies three main frames—law‑and‑order, victimization, and political critique—with the law‑and‑order frame most common in both cases. The largely similar framing patterns suggest that digital‑native platforms do not necessarily broaden discursive diversity and that shared structural constraints in the media environment help reproduce framing norms traditionally associated with legacy journalism
https://doi.org/10.1080/23743670.2025.2610205
Post created by: Virginia Signorini