Influence of Contextual Factors on Implementation of Media Policies Protecting Children against Harmful Television Content in Nairobi County
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47604/ijcpr.3637Keywords:
Free-To-Air, Child Protection, Policy Implementation, Stakeholder InvolvementAbstract
Purpose: This study examined how contextual factors shape the implementation of media policy protecting children from harmful television content in Nairobi County, Kenya. It focused on the relationship between stakeholder involvement and policy effectiveness within a broadcast environment dominated by free-to-air television.
Methodology: A mixed-methods design was employed, targeting all key child protection policy actors in Nairobi County, including government agencies, the Media Owners Association, policy experts, television stations, and parents. Purposive sampling yielded 416 respondents. Data were gathered through self-administered parent questionnaires and structured institutional interviews conducted by trained research assistants. A critical policy analysis was undertaken alongside key informant interviews and a review of individual broadcasters’ content policies. Both descriptive and inferential statistical methods were applied.
Findings: Policy implementation was found to be significantly influenced by four contextual factors: stakeholder capability, institutional capacity, collaborative potential, and level of contribution. Public participation in media policy processes was minimal, and expectations of such involvement were low. Media owners were consistently perceived as bearing the primary burden of implementation.
Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Applying normalization process theory to Kenyan television, it demonstrates that implementation deficits arise not from resource gaps alone but from disrupted coherence, participation, collective action, and monitoring. This corrects communication scholarship’s overemphasis on policy design over institutional embedding. Practically, it offers media organizations a diagnostic tool to assess child protection safeguards and compliance systems. This enables movement from reactive adherence toward auditable, continuously improving institutional practices. By locating failures in workability, resourcing, commitment, or enactment, practitioners can target leverage points with precision. In policy, the research challenges assumptions that media owners bear sole responsibility. It advocates a statutorily mandated, multi-stakeholder model embedding public participation and civic education. This dissolves the circular responsibility vacuum among regulators, broadcasters, and parents through legally enforceable roles. The contribution is urgent given digital migration and unregulated streaming platforms, which render broadcaster-centric enforcement obsolete.
Downloads
References
Achieng, L. (2021). Protection of children rights: Call to adherence to the journalism code of conduct [Advisory press release]. Media Council of Kenya. https://mediacouncil.or.ke
American Psychological Association. (2013). Violence in the media: Psychologists study potential harmful effects. https://www.apa.org
Andrews, M., Pritchett, L., & Woolcock, M. (2017). Capability for policy implementation. In Building state capability: Evidence, analysis, action (pp. 77–96). Oxford University Press.
Bosch, T. (2022). Co-regulation and compliance: Broadcasting policy implementation in Gauteng province. Communication: South African Journal for Communication Theory and Research, 48(1), 45–63.
Botha, P., & Potgieter, M. (2023). Streaming platforms and the erosion of broadcast content regulation in South Africa. Journal of African Media Studies, 15(2), 211–228.
Capano, G., & Woo, J. J. (2018). Resilience and robustness in policy design: A critical appraisal. Policy Sciences, 51(3), 399–426.
Damschroder, L. J. (2020). Clarity out of chaos: Use of theory in implementation research. Psychiatry Research, 283, Article 112461.
Duncan, J. (2021). The politics of media policy in South Africa: Regulation, co-regulation and the public interest. HSRC Press.
Fitzpatrick, C., Oghia, J., & Pagani, L. S. (2016). Early childhood exposure to media violence: What parents and policymakers ought to know. South African Journal of Childhood Education, 6(1), Article a431.
Gentile, D. A. (Ed.). (2014). Media violence and children: A complete guide for parents and professionals (2nd ed.). Praeger.
Gerbner, G., Gross, L., Morgan, M., Signorielli, N., & Shanahan, J. (2002). Growing up with television: Cultivation processes. In J. Bryant & D. Zillmann (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (2nd ed., pp. 43–67). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Grossman, M. (2022). The policy cycle: A framework for public policy analysis. Routledge.
Jordan, A. B. (2008). The role of media in the family. In S. L. Calvert & B. J. Wilson (Eds.), The handbook of children, media, and development (pp. 561–577). Blackwell.
Jordan, A. B. (2012). The impact of media policy on children's media exposure. In The international encyclopedia of media studies. Wiley-Blackwell.
Krejcie, R. V., & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 30(3), 607–610
Levy, T. (2017). How violence in media affects children's behavior. Evergreen Psychotherapy Center. https://www.evergreenpsychotherapycenter.com
May, C. (2013). Towards a general theory of implementation. Implementation Science, 8(1), Article 18.
Morgan, M., & Shanahan, J. (2010). The state of cultivation. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 54(2), 337–355.
Nilsen, P. (2015). Making sense of implementation theories, models and frameworks. Implementation Science, 10(1), Article 53.
Odhiambo, L. (2023). Media regulation and child protection in Kenya: A critical analysis. University of Nairobi Press.
Ogunyemi, O. (2020). Parental awareness of content classification systems in Lagos households. African Journal of Communication Studies, 13(3), 78–94.
Ojebuyi, B. R., & Salawu, A. (2019). Between regulation and reality: Broadcast content monitoring in Nigeria's digital era. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 63(4), 612–630.
Okon, G. A., & Ekanem, I. (2021). Regulatory symbolism and the implementation gap in Nigerian broadcasting. International Journal of Communication, 15, 4521–4538.
Oosthuizen, L. M. (2019). Civic education and media literacy: The South African Broadcasting Corporation's public service mandate. Critical Arts, 33(6), 89–104.
Oyero, O., & Salawu, A. (2018). Commercial imperatives versus child protection: Broadcasters' compliance with Nigerian media policy. African Journalism Studies, 39(3), 56–74.
Pearce, K. E., Gonzales, A. L., & Welles, B. F. (2020). The smart city and the public: Exploring the intersection of technology and policy. New Media & Society, 22(1), 156–173.
Wanyama, L. (2017). Media control in Kenya: The state of broadcasting under the new Kenya Information and Communication Act of 2013. New Media and Mass Communication, 33, 1–12. https://core.ac.uk
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Samson Guantai Raiji, Prof. Hellen Mberia, Dr. Augustus Nyakundi
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
