ABSTRACT
Kibera News Network (KNN) is a “citizen” media outlet in Kibera, a slum of some 250,000 people in Nairobi, Kenya. KNN was inspired by the lack of nuanced and balanced coverage of the slum in the mainstream Kenyan media. Kibera is known for being an epicenter of post-election violence in 2008, at which time the national and international media descended on the slum, but, otherwise, it is often ignored. Kibera is particularly susceptible to damaging coverage from an “outside” gaze, and residents rarely see themselves or their perspectives represented in the media — nor does the media cover topics of local interest. KNN has sought to remedy this by allowing average Kibera citizens to speak out on a wide variety of topics. This chapter will discuss incidents of mainstream or international news coverage, contrasting them with KNN’s coverage and indicating where such coverage has caused controversy and frustration in the slum. It will also include reflections from KNN’s reporters.
