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Colby College

Publication Date

Spring 2010

Program Name

Kenya: Health and Community Development

Abstract

Traditional media is often thought of as a space for resourced storytellers to inform a passive and silent audience. In the Kibera informal settlement, this paradigm has allowed large commercial media houses to misrepresent the realities of everyday life. Community media houses have the opportunity to correct this misrepresentation and redefine who we perceive to be the storyteller. By striving to highlight news and issues affecting the community, media houses such as Pamoja FM radio station and the Kibera Journal have given a voice to Kibera. Yet with the introduction of innovative media technologies, the distinction between the storyteller and the audience may become blurred, thus breaking down the idea of traditional media. The Voice of Kibera represents a social media project in which a more participatory form of media is possible. This altered form of media may foster a media democracy and thereby create a platform for collective action.

Disciplines

Communication | Communication Technology and New Media | Organizational Communication

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