9 out of 10 kenyans have seen fake news about the 2017 ... release 9 out of 10 kenyans have seen...
TRANSCRIPT
NEWSRELEASE
9outof10Kenyanshaveseenfakenewsaboutthe2017generalelection
First-everstudyonfakenewsinKenyarevealsscaleofissueandimpactontrustinmedia
Nairobi,19July2017-Anewstudyrevealsthat90%ofKenyanshaveseenorheardfalsenewsaboutthe2017generalelection,with87%reportinginstancesofdeliberatelyfalse–orfake–news.
TheRealityofFakeNewsinKenya,launchedtodayinNairobi,isthefirst-everstudyaimedatquantifying
theprevalenceandimpactoffalseinformationduringanelectioncampaigninAfrica.
ThenationwidesurveywasledbystrategiccommunicationsconsultancyPortlandincollaborationwithGeoPoll,amobilesurveyingplatform.
ConductedviaSMS,thesurveyaskedanationallyrepresentativesampleof2,000KenyansaseriesofquestionsabouttheirconsumptionofnewsduringMay2017inrelationtotheforthcominggeneralelection.
Thesurveyfound:
• 90%ofrespondentsreportedhavingseenfalseorinaccuratenewsinrelationtothegeneral
election.87%ofrespondentsregardedthisnewsasbeingdeliberatelymisleading–orfake
news.
• Traditionalmediaremainthemosttrustednewssources,withtelevisionrankinghighest,
followedbyradioandnewspapers.
• RadioisthemostconsistentlyaccessedsourceofnewsinKenya,withthesmallestvariation
betweendifferentprovincesacrossthecountry.
• SocialmediaiswidelyusedbyKenyansofallagestoaccessandsharenews,with49%of
Kenyansusingsocialplatformstosecuregeneralelectionnews.However,socialmedia
consistentlyrankslowerthantraditionalmediaontrust.
• FacebookandWhatsApparethemostpopularsocialmediaplatformsfornews,preferred
overallby46%and25%respectively.
• Friendsandfamily,andcommunityleaders,aretheleasttrustedsourcesofnewsoverall,
rankedastheleastlikelytoprovideaccurateinformationaboutthegeneralelection.
• 57%Kenyansfeelabletoaccessalltheinformationaboutthegeneralelectionthattheyneed.
• AvastmajorityofKenyans(78%)wouldlikemorefactualandaccurateinformationaboutthe
generalelectioninsteadofopinionandcommentary.
• 67%ofKenyansprefercomprehensiveanddetailedinformationaboutpolitics.33%prefer
summarisedandconciseinformation.
AllanKamau,HeadofPortlandNairobi,said:“WhilefakenewsisevidentlynowacorepartofthenewsmixinKenya,reassuringly,ourstudyfoundthatKenyansarealreadywellattunedtospottingfalseinformation.Respondentscitedconflictingdata,controversialmessagesandbiasedreportingasthetopfactorsthatleadthemtosuspectsomethingisfalse.Gettingevenmoresophisticatedaboutspottingandtacklingfakenewswillbevitalinensuringthatcrediblenewssourcescanmaintainlevelsoftrust.”
RobertWatkinson,PartneratPortland,said:“With4in10Kenyansunabletoaccessaccurateinformationaboutthegeneralelection,fakenewsisclearlyalimitingfactorontheelectorate’sabilitytomakeinformeddecisions.Byrevealingthescaleandimpactoffakenews,wehopethisstudyprovidesanewpointofreference,notjustforpoliticalcampaigninginKenyabutalsoforallcommunicatorsseekingtoengageKenyansinthedigitalage.”
SteveGutterman,CEOofGeoPoll,said:“GrowingmobileconnectivityandusageinKenyameansthatphonesareincreasinglybeingusedtoconsumenewsandinformation.Withmobilesurveying,weareabletocollectdeepinsightsfromsamplesrightacrossKenya.UsingtheGeoPollplatform,thissurveyhasprovideduswithrichdataonhowmuchofanissuefakenewsisinKenyaandtheimpactitishaving
onhowpeopleaccessreliableinformation.”
ENDS
Toreadthefullreport,pleasevisitwww.portland-communications.comorhttps://research.geopoll.com
TofollowtheconversationonTwitter:#FakeNewsKenya,@PortlandAfrica,@GeoPoll
Media contacts
In Kenya
PortlandSimonCrump,[email protected],+254791398792
GeoPollNjeriWangari,[email protected],+254722353657/+254788110056
Internationally
AlexCougoulic,[email protected],+442075541732
About Portland
Portlandisaninternationalcommunicationsconsultancytrustedbysomeofthehighestprofile
organisations,governmentsandindividualsintheworld.
Wearepioneersinintegratedcommunicationscampaignsengagingpoliticians,globalopinionleaders,decision-makers,keystakeholders,consumersandmedia.
Wehelpclientsmanagetheirreputation,improvetheirvisibilityandsecuremediacoverage–anddeliverglobalcommunicationscampaignsacrossmultipleplatforms.
ThroughofficesinLondon,Doha,Nairobi,NewYork,WashingtonDCandSingapore,Portlandhassupportedclientsinmorethan85countries.
PortlandNairobicoordinatesPortland’sgrowingbodyofworkinAfrica.
www.portland-communications.com
About GeoPoll
GeoPollistheworld'slargestreal-timemobilesurveyplatform,reachingagrowingnetworkofmorethan320millionusersin30countriesworldwideonadeeplygranularlevelandatunprecedentedscale.
Throughamultimodalplatformpoweredbytext,voiceandweb-basedcommunications,GeoPollenablesorganizationstogatherquick,accurateandin-depthinsightsonanythingfromconsumer
preferencestosocialanddevelopmentconcerns.
https://research.geopoll.com/