UNDERSTANDING THE OBLIGATION OF MEDIA IN THE EAST

AFRICAN COMMUNITY INTEGRATION PROCESS

By
Obar Mark; E-mail: obarrmark@gmail.com Cell: +254 728762356
The East African Community
The East African Community (EAC) is the regional
intergovernmental organization of Kenya, Uganda,
Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi with its headquarters
in Arusha, Tanzania. The East African Community was
frst formed in 1897 with the construction of the Kenya-
Uganda Railway. The community however, collapsed
in 1977 (Kamala, 2006), and was offcially dissolved
in 1997. Two years later on 30th of November, 1999, a
treaty for the establishment of the current East African
Community was signed on and was enforced on 7th
of July, 2000 following its ratifcation by the original
three partner states Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania
(Society for International Development, 2011).
In 2011 Rwanda and Burundi acceded and became full
members of the community on July, 2007. In 2005,
the EAC countries established a customs union and
is expected to establish common market within fve
years. The East African Community is going through
an integration process. Its not yet achieved but the
community has put plans underway to ensure that the
bloc is united terms of economic, social and political
ties
Introduction
The frst broad experiment at regional integration in
Africa failed with the collapse of the East African
Community (EAC) in 1977. At the time, the EAC was
both a fully-fedged Customs Union and a Common
Market. It shared railways and harbours, airline, civil
aviation, inland waterways, road and lighting, customs
and tax management, health and medical research, etc.
At the time of its collapse, regional integration in East
Africa had reached the highest level of experience in
the world.
In 2005, the EAC launched a Customs Union and
declared a Common Market. They reduced tariffs on
goods traded within the community, made it easier
for workers and companies to do business in any of
their countries and created institutions to implement
policies uniformly across the region. Since then
trade within the nations has increased by nearly 50
percent. The next phase of the integration would be
the East African countries entering into the bloc of a
Monetary Union and ultimately become a Political
Federation of the East African States (EAC, 2011).
From 2005 the EAC have used the traditional
ways to maintain a continuous relationship with their
publics. Each country has set up an EAC Ministry.
In Kenya we have the Ministry of East Africa
Community, whose main function is to coordinate,
facilitate and oversee the affairs relating to the
EAC. The Ministry has the added responsibility of
facilitating sensitization and awareness campaigns
on matters of EAC integration.

Often, any new initiative is met with fears,
suspicions and doubts. The desire to re-establish
an East African Community (EAC) is therefore not
an exception, given that an earlier attempt of 1967
failed in 1977. This failure could be associated
with many reasons, chief of them being politics.
Yet, factually, all information about EAC reaches
the public through print and electronic media. This
makes communication a key player in the initial and
current attempt of forming an EAC.
At the moment, there is a real need to educate
people in the region on EAC, persuaded them to
accept the course and appreciate it as benefcial
for individual and collective member states. This
means that the media has to play the key role of
creating awareness by correctly informing and
educating the general public and the stake holders
on the actualities/ FACTS of the EAC. It is thus
my view that EAC integration will only take place
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when, among other major stake holders, the media
are carefully brought on board because the role
of communication in regional development and
integration cannot be under estimated.
It is in this given background that I strongly hold
that the success of EAC is dependent upon many
factors, media being a major one. Thus, EAC will
succeed in the realization of its vision and mission
depending on how EAC relates with the media
because media will contribute, to a great extent,
in making or breaking the community.
Therefore, my argument is that the EAC media has
the capability, through repeated news coverage,
to successfully raise the importance of the EAC
integration agenda in the public mind.
Proper coverage by the media of the activities of
the community both at the HQ and in the member
states hence plays a key role. This will generate
citizens awareness, understanding and support for
the integration project. Communication thus plays
a key role in addressing the fears, suspicions and
doubts about the motives and prospects of regional
integration.
For the success of the EAC, the stake holders
ought to consider the media as a major partner and
player. The media will assist in setting the EAC as
an agenda for the people. The success of EAC is
dependent upon many factors including the media.
Challenges Facing the East African Community
To appreciate what role media relations has in
promoting the efforts of the EAC, it would be
important to understand the challenges being faced.
There are a lot formed opinions and views as to why
East Africa Community was once again brought to
life by three main countries Kenya, Uganda and
Tanzania. Some players see it as a drive by Kenya
to export surplus capital while Uganda seeks an
outlet for its surplus labour and Tanzania visualises
to realise a Pan-African vision for her population. It is
however very spot-on that some of these commonalities
go far deeper. Many people in the East African countries
can still remember the former Community and even
the sharp sense of loss at its eventual dissolution.
Further cynically, the historical ambitions that led to
the collapse of the frst integration are still lingering
in the offng, and they still provide the potentiality
for politicians and other vested interests to hold the
community at ransom. So, what could be the best
solution for this impending fallout and how best can
media relations solve this looming uncertainty?
The East African Community has faced a great deal of
challenges since its inception. This can be attributed
(among other factors) to the level of involvement of the
media relations department in the integration process
among other things. It could even explain the collapse
of the previous EAC which may lead one to conclude
that the role of media relations in the EAC has in the
past been a promotional one. The EACs vision is to
attain a prosperous, competitive, secure and politically
united East Africa. The mission is to widen and deepen
economic, political, social and cultural integration in
order to improve the quality of life of the people of
East Africa through increased competitiveness, value
added production, and enhanced trade and investment.
(EAC, 2011) There are various challenges in line with
both the mission and vision.
Among the challenges which target the successful
integration of the economic, political, social and
cultures of all countries include economies which
continue to be encumbered by low competitiveness;
the area of transport in the railway industry of the
concessioning of the central railway system in
Tanzania and the Kenya-Uganda Railway; in the
Agricultural development and food security sector
where high food prices continue to affect assistance
to the most poor and hungry as well as re-launching
agriculture and revitalizing rural communities in order
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to ensure a secure EAC food situation; a changing,
highly dynamic and competitive posture in the East
African scene in investments and trade promotion
among others.
However the challenge of communication is
heavy. A consolidation of the East African media
conglomerate in print, electronic or both are a
strategic partner in driving the integration agenda
forward. There is the East African newspaper being
one of the channels that delivers news on a fnancial
front to the people of EAC. With the EAC forging
deeper and wider integration, if the aspects are not
well managed, they could cause major setbacks.
Issues in line with funding - whereby long fnancial
clearing processes such as fawed tendering process
may delay or compromise the quality of paid
communication such as documentaries. There is
also the tarnished image due to the past failure of
the post-independence EAC; the general public and
media are skeptical about the current organization.
The stakeholders have to turn this image into a more
favorable one by using media and communication
platforms to sensitize the citizens of the member
states on the importance of such regional integration.
There-in lies the role the media needs to play in
promoting better understanding of the complexity
of the Common market showing commitment
within EAC partner states. The full potential of EAC
will be best realized when the media supports the
efforts being undertaken while being sensitive and
respectful of national conditions. The challenges
facing the EU single market attests to the need to
galvanize political will as well as the commitment
of East African citizens around shared integration
goals. The media has a unique place and role to
play in this worthy task. The major solution will
be in line with communicating as many successes
as possible and that is why the media relations will
play a big role.
The Need for Media Relations
Unlike many citizens and economists of the member
states, the corporate communities of these countries
are far more positive and hopeful about the benefts
of EAC integration, customs union and even the lager
integration that has not yet been realised. In a wider
developmental view, there are ciphers of a business
ethos oriented to making profts over economics
of scale and not necessarily on protectionism. All
these spheres of economic wellbeing can never be
understood correctly without an integrated media for
the East African Community.
It is however imperative to note that EAC has had good
media platform as refected in the previous projects
and initiatives they have carried out before. A good
example is from a speech that was delivered by Mr.
Magana Alot, the Principal Information and Public
Relations Offcer/ Head, EAC Directorate of Corporate
Communications and Public Affairs where he clearly
brought out that EAC recognized the importance of
media in regional integration as it is a vital tool to pass
on the messages to the publics (Alot, 2012). The most
important thing would be to institutionalize the Media
Relations for East African Community in a way that
would promote peace and development among the
member states. On this basis, the concerned citizens
will understand the essence and importance of having
good relations with the media which will in turn help
reach other stakeholders. As such they should use
the experience and knowledge gained to bring about
awareness and promote the vision and mission of EAC
as well as its activities.
One of the key initiatives that EAC has is the Training
Journalists on Reporting Regional Integration they
can be used to train about the mission and vision.
These trained journalists have a deeper understanding
on the issues EAC are facing and it would work well
for the journalists to push out information in the
EACs perspective. The journalists could also use
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examples and cover stories and documentaries that
demonstrate the spirit of regional integration with a
message on how the people of EAC can take part in
enhancing integration in their own little way.
The media owners and practitioners are important
when it comes to media relations as they decide
on what will be channeled out to the public. EAC
should take advantage of the East African Media
Summit which they already institutionalized and
use it as a platform to talk about its vision and
mission to the media owners and practitioners who
are the key target for this annual event. During this
Summit, EAC should provide key focus areas that
the media personnel can uptake and cover in their
media houses. It would also be a way of involving
the public by providing content that allows for
debate.
The EAC has publications in its name and could
use them in publicity. Further, they should make
use of their website which has numerous resources
such as the Community monthly e-newsletter. All
these materials could be used for interaction with
the various stakeholders especially those who are
reached out to through these resources. The social
media will also enable them to have feedback and
therefore better communication with the publics.
The EAC should build on the already existing
positive media relations by encouraging and
promoting the staff to engage more with the media
and have a positive media culture. This will build on
the staffs confdence and enable them to have the
will to interact and they make themselves available
to the media (Local government. Improvement
and development, 2009). The EAC should create
a media strategy which is linked to the overall
goal of communication. The strategy should
include a detailed action plan which will assist
in accountability and focus by the team (Local
Government Improvement and Development,
2009). This will enable them to be on check and also
enhance the already existing relationships.
The EAC should also maximize on people like Public
Information Offcer (PIO). Every team member of the
EAC, irrespective of the role they play, should have
an understanding of who the PIO is and what his or
her role entails. Allen (2012) states that some of the
PIOs tasks are: scheduling interviews, developing and
maintaining a media contact list, selecting appropriate
team members for interviews, preparing selected team
members for interactions with the media, escorting
media representatives and VIPs throughout the
operational area, issuing press releases and gathering
and verifying information. In addition, the PIO must
possess a knowledge base about disaster management,
the Federal Response Plan, and the history and capability
of his or her team. The person selected to serve as
EACs PIO must have the ability to communicate in an
effective and professional demeanour and have strong
verbal skills. He or she must have the ability to work
well under pressure and think quickly in the moment.
This is the spokesperson for their team; any requests
that come from the media should be directed to the
PIO.
With that said, this paper suggests that the role media
relations in enabling the East African Community
(EAC) to realize its vision and mission of regional
integration should be a strategic role based on the
most effective model of media relations, the two-way
symmetrical model. A model that ensures that the
reasons behind activities or decisions are understood
and supported by all that are involved (Rama Krishnan,
2007).Consequently, the corporate and the public both
beneft.
This approach is most appropriate for the East African
Community because of the various challenges the
region has been facing with regards to the integration
process. According to Anami (2012), the inability of
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EAC secretariat to enforce its treaties, rules and
decisions on member countries have resulted to
the poor implementation of the customs union and
common market, two very vital stages towards the
creation of a monetary union. According to Kamala
(2006) the biggest challenge is the inability of
members of the region to view themselves as East
African citizens as opposed to individual citizens
of member states. This could explain the high
level of suspicion among individual states which
has resulted to the slow implementation of EAC
secretariats decisions by member states.
Therefore, the media relations department should
be involved in working with various media for the
purpose of informing the public of an organizations
mission, policies and practices in a positive,
consistent and credible manner (Johnston, 2008).
By doing so, media relations will help promote
awareness, discourse and involvement of the broad
range of stakeholders in the East African regional
integration process. For example, the media will be
able to demonstrate the effciency and effectiveness
as well as more visibility of the activities,
achievements and competitiveness in the region
and beyond. When the people are aware of the
community; that is, they see it and feel its presence,
they would appreciate it more and acknowledge its
benefts and prospects. Additionally, they would
get increasingly invested in it and participate in
its projects and programs as well as apply positive
pressure on the leadership to ensure its viability and
sustainability.
This approach to media relations will also allow for
the EAC to work in an open system since it will
be highly involved with its publics. According to
Austin and Pinkleton (2006) this kind of system
allows for an organization to implement changes
to adjust to the ever changing environment hence
avoid becoming irrelevant and ineffective.
The approach would also allow for the EAC to set
the agenda with the media hence promote positive
sensitization of the East African people on the great
and overriding importance of regional integration.
According to Cornelissen (2008) agenda setting is the
frequency with which the media report on an issue
determines that issues salience in the minds of the
general public, (p. 132). Through agenda setting, the
publics will constantly hear EAC matters and possibly
place at a certain level of importance on them. This
could consequently lead to agenda building among the
publics hence cause them to infuence each other and
lead to the change of policies (Society for International
development, 2011).
For all this to happen, the EAC media relations
department will have to use a wide range of tools
and techniques to ensure news coverage as well as
monitor news reports about their organization to
enable it to achieve its objectives. These tools include;
press releases, press conferences, interviews, media
monitoring and media research. In addition to that, the
EAC communication practitioners will have to form
and maintain relationships with journalists.
The relationship between corporate communication
practitioners and journalists can have an impact on the
quality of news coverage about the organization. This
is because it helps promote the organization in good
times and defend it during a crisis (Cutlip & Canter,
2000). Therefore, EAC media relation practitioners
should form and maintain a good network with the
media so as to ensure factual coverage. It should
constantly engage in meetings with reporters just to
build goodwill and credibility. It should not turn away
from the media and only appear when a crisis hits or
when it has information to share (Argenti, 2009). The
EAC communication professionals will also have to
engage journalists in negotiations to ensure that news
and reports are released in line with its objectives. This
is referred to as the framing theory which focuses on
how messages are created so that they connect with 5
how people receive information and pass judgments
on an organization. (Cornelissen, 2008)
Through the use of appropriate news tools, EAC can
also achieve its intended vision and mission. For
example it will be more appropriate for it to have a
press conference as opposed to a press release. This
is because a press release aims to transfer news to
journalists so that it can be made public. According
to Cornelissen (2008) a press release is placed in
the media when it has newsworthy events or items
that are current and they have a human appeal or
interest. On the other hand, a press conference is
used when the information cannot be conveyed in a
standardized written form or when the information
is controversial or sensitive (Cornelissen, 2008).
As we already know, matters concerning regional
integration are very sensitive.
The EAC should also carry out media monitoring
and research. According to Argenti (2009) this
consists of monitoring the media relations effort.
By conducting the research, the EAC avoids giving
reporters information that is not necessary and
communication will only occur when the audience
is receptive. Intended effect of the media can also be
achieved through advertising. Advertisers control
content placement and timing by paying for media
advertising and space. This way, the EACs position
and presence is enhanced in the eyes of the public
(Rice & Atkins, 2001).
Defning Media Relations
Media Relations is an on-going systematic
managerial effort to establish and maintain mutually
benefcial relationships between the organization (in
this case EAC) and its internal and external publics,
on which its success or failure depends. Media
Relations is thus the link between the organization
and the internal and external publics, as well as
the media.
The roles of media relations in attaining the
vision/mission of EAC
1.1 Dissemination of information/education of
members
The EAC will require the participation of all the
potential member states and key stakeholders including
the citizens of these nations. For this participation to
be effective, these internal and external publics will
have to be informed of the key details of the plan
of integration and kept up to date about any further
steps taken; what each member state stands to gain or
lose and the intended goals. This will be done by the
EAC through all kinds of media, be it social, print or
electronic - by a Media Relations Offcer or a Media
Relations Department as a whole. In passing relevant
and correct information regularly to the parties
involved, the EAC will be cultivating and engaging in
effective community relations. In addition, EAC media
relations will educate persons who are members of
other economic blocs like COMESA (Common Market
for Eastern and Southern Africa), and SADC (Southern
Africa Development Corporation) for the need to come
together and strengthen the EAC (Mnema, 2012).
Issues of non-compliance by member states should be
highlighted. EAC media relations offcers will engage
with the media on these issues both at national and
regional levels.
1.2 Crystallization of unformed opinions
Through media relations, the EAC can emphasize its
achievements thus far causing its internal and external
publics to have the good kind of faith on them. By way
of example, the EAC can run features of the benefts
accrued thus far by the customs union, the common
market and the monetary union. When this information
is emphasized, a majority of the stakeholders will
have more faith in the organization, in its vision and
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mission and in its integration of the nations. Such
processes by the EAC will cause the stakeholders to
not only form good opinions and have faith, but to
also conserve these opinions for long time periods;
to have frm faith in the EAC. Media relations will
also educate the people of the region on issues of
integration, protecting core national values and
interests. The crystallization of unformed opinions
can be considered to be the very frst step in creating
and maintaining adequate community relations.
Public relations should be proactive in informing
people on issues like monetary policy, and the
endeavours of the customs union.
1.3 Environmental Analysis
Media Relations makes use of research. Media
Relations research can, for instance, take the forms
of SWOT and PESTLE analyses. These two, as well
as other types of analyses, are very important to the
East African Community. One vision and one mission
simply cannot be implemented in a good number
of nations without prior analyses of the existing
circumstances. A SWOT analysis will enable the
EAC to understand the strengths, the weaknesses,
the opportunities and the threats it will have to face
in integrating the processes in the nations concerned.
The PESTLE analysis will enable the EAC to grasp
the political, economic, social, technological, legal
and environmental circumstances in the various
nations. This will enable the nation respect the
authorities in the respective nations and use the
appropriate means of communication, for example,
to pitch their ideas further. By carefully analysing
its SWOT and PESTLE, the EAC will be forging
relationships with investors and others who share its
interest for East Africa; the EAC will be engaging in
investor relations.
1.4 Advocacy role
Media relations will play the role of an advocate for the
EAC. It will promote and intensify the free movement
of people, goods and services across common borders.
Media relations will be a mediator in the issue of
infrastructure among member states, in terms of good
road networks, reducing air transport, and making
easier the movement of goods on common ports. Media
relations will also be the voice for the voiceless in the
region. It will bring the integration process closer to the
people, as well as lead the crusade for strengthening
the spirit of unity and engendering the as East African
identity (Nyambuga, 2008).
1.5 Crisis Communication/peace building
One of the reasons why there have been clashes in
Kenya is that cultures/ ethnic groups cannot tolerate
each other. Regional integration for the EAC, as stated
in its mission, entails an integration of cultures; this
is very likely to cause multiple crises if not given a
thoughtful approach. The EAC will foresee these signs
or miss them altogether, thus crisis communication,
prior to, during and after the crises will be required
and handled by a media relations department. Crisis
communication is one of the main functions of
media relations, also known as issues management.
In addition, media relations must promote peace and
security for the region to achieve its vision and mission.
The region is currently threatened by insecurity
from Islamic fundamentalists like Al Shabab militia.
Media relations will promote peace and security in
the region by promoting the peaceful settlement of
disputes among member states, good governance, and
adherence to principles of democracy, the rule of law,
accountability, transparency, social justice, and equal
opportunities among members (Othieno, O. 2012).
1.6 Media Relations Audits
Media Relations necessitates audits before, during
and after an organization takes up certain projects; for
the EAC, this project is ultimately the creation of a
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political federation of the East African states. The
audits enable an understanding of what has been
achieved, what is yet to be achieved and the degree
of the disparity between these two variables. This is
according to Local Government Improvement and
Development. For the EAC, the Media Relations
audit will enable an analysis of how residents
gain their information about the council an
analysis of the EACs media monitoring statistics
and a survey of all the journalists involved, also
according to Local Government Improvement and
Development. Media relations audits will help the
EAC to bridge the gaps in its operations/ processes
as they crop up and will eventually aid the positive
growth of investor and community relations.
1.7 Telling the East African story
Media relations practitioners will engage with the
media in telling the East African story. Issues around
politics, economics, and diplomacy in the region will
be told by East Africans themselves, with the EAC
playing the key role of the initiator of the telling
of these stories. Such stories should not come from
the Western media. More often than not, stories
from Western media on East Africa and the African
continent are often tilted to the negative, portraying
Africa as a continent of doom experiencing woes
that can hardly accelerate/ aid integration (Smith,
1998). Therefore, East Africa must take ownership
of their story and promote the EAC integration
agenda. Such stories should highlight the benefts of
this integration such as seeking education and health
care services among member states. Challenges of
the region should also be highlighted, such as the
skepticism surrounding Kenyas dominance of the
region and thus, the fear by other nations, of losing
cultural identity. Media relations will engage with
editors, producers, writers, journalists, reporters
in dealing with these issues. A good platform can
be The East Africa, a newspaper targeting the East
African audience.
Newspaper Analysis on Media
Coverage for East African
Community Stories
Newspaper study was done between the months of
June and December, 2012 to determine the level
of coverage of media reports on matters of East
African Community and such issues that directly
or indirectly affected the communitys integration.
Three major newspapers were used in this study; The
East African Newspaper, The Daily Nation and The
Daily Standard Newspaper. These newspapers were
preferred on the basis of their orientation to the East
African audiences. Virtually, the three newspapers
have got the largest audiences in the whole of East
Africa. It is also noteworthy to mention that the three
newspapers are owned by Kenyan companies or media
groups. The East African Newspapers and The Daily
Nation Newspaper are owned by Nation Media Group
NMG which is the largest media organization in East
and Central Africa, while The Standard Newspaper is
owned by The Standard Group in Kenya.
Quantitative Analysis on News Coverage
The East African Newspaper has got the widest
distribution platform in East African whereas The
Daily Nation and The Standard Newspapers are more
of Kenyan newspapers which also have audiences
across the East African Community. The Standard and
The Daily Nation carry over 80% of Kenyan based
news items and other reports; the other items can be
International News which may also include matters
of the East African Community and other countries
including international football and advertisements.
To the contrary, The East African Newspaper which
has got the largest audience across the East African
Community carries over 60% of International news
items and media reports, and more specifcally on
matters that in one way or the other affect the East
African people.
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Researched;
Designed by Obar Mark;-
E-mail: obarrmark@gmail.com
Cell: +254728762356
The percentages showing summary of an averaged news coverage with The East African Newspaper, The
Daily Nation and The Standard Newspaper.

The East African
Newspaper
The Daily Nation
Newspaper
The Standard
Newspaper
Countries News
Items
6% 82% (Kenyan) 83% (Kenyan)
World News Items 23% 8% 6%
East African News 68% 2% 1%
Other Stories and
Advertisements
3% 10% 10%

The above prcis noticeably shows that the three newspapers major on stories that directly affect people in
locations where their market strengths are bigger. The Daily Nation Newspaper and The Standard Newspaper
have major strengths in Kenya. Therefore, most of the stories (over 80%) are Kenyan stories. On the other hand,
The East African Newspaper that appears to be having an evenly distributed marketing strength across East
Africa and all over the world tends to major on stories of the East African people (over 65%). After viewing
the websites of the three newspapers, it was very evident that most of them carry more of world news online
than on the papers. This is because the local populations prefer to read the hardcopy newspapers to reading
the online publications. The websites therefore, are the most convenient media for the world population;
especially for those people who are affected by matters of the East African yet they cant get hard copies
easily. This majorly applies to the population of Africans in the Diaspora.

Another observation is that; the percentages of news coverage on the papers are directly proportional the
market strengths of the various newspapers. Its however not very clear, the numbers of copies that The Daily
Nation Newspaper and The Standard Newspaper sell in a single day or a week in Kenya and across the East
African Community since the numbers do ebb and fow as per the season and factors of economies. The East
African newspaper has got markets across the East African Community, especially in Kenya and Uganda
where a large percentage of the people can read English. Its however sold more in Kenya than any of the East
African countries. This probably explains the level of information that Kenyans have on matters of the East
African Community as compared to other EAC member states.
In a period of six months, from June to December, over one hundred stories were published by the three
newspapers on matters that directly or indirectly touch on the East African Community. Averagely, this is
around 13% of the total news items published by the three news papers across East Africa. However, when
looking at each newspapers coverage, The East African Newspapers carries the largest of the East African
news items, with over 60% of the East African News. The Daily Nation and The Standard Newspapers have
got around 1% of news coverage on matters of the East African Community.
The month of June marks a new fnancial year for a number of East African states. In the same month, the three
newspapers are plausibly supposed to consider matters of the East African Integration as well as those of their
respective countries. However, in the frst week of the month of June, 2012, The East African Newspaper had
published fve stories on matters of the East African Community while The Daily Nation and The Standard
Newspapers had only published one story, each.
In the last month of the year 2012, December, The East African Newspaper had published up to a total of 73
stories on matters of East African Community whereas The Daily Nation and The Standard Newspaper had
only published 12 and 9 stories respectively.
News reports on matters of The East African Community in the frst week of June, 2012 and the last week
of December, 2012 that is, within a period of six months.
The East
African
Newspaper
The Daily
Nation
Newspaper
The Standard
Newspaper
Percentage of
Coverage (%)
9
First Week of
the year (June,
2012)
5 1 1 7.4%
Total number
of stories up to
the Last week
of December,
2012
73 12 9
Total number
of stories on
EAC within
six months
78 13 10
Total number of stories in six months time: 101stories = 100%
Averagely, over 7% of the total number stories that were reported on The East African Community within a
period of six months were published every week. However, such newspapers like The Daily Nation and The
Standard Newspapers could report as low as less than one percent in each week. This means that there are
some weeks when The Daily Nation and The Standard Newspapers never reported any news items on matters
of the East African Community.
There are around 24 weeks in six months, each month having 4 week. In each week averagely, The East
African Newspapers published 3.2 % of the stories covered within six months.

The East African Newspaper
Weekly stories on average; [78/24] = 3.25
In percentage, The East African Newspaper published;
[3.25 by 100] = 325/101 = [3.217821781]
= 3.2% in a week.
On the other hand, The Daily Nation and The Standard Newspaper published 1 story or, at times the two papers
had no story about the East African Community. This brings the percentage publication by the two papers to
less than 1% per week. This culture in tow local dailies, The Daily Nation and The Standard Newspapers could
probably explain why there is very minimal information on matters of the East African Community among the
member states of the community.
Kenya has got the largest literate population as compared to any of the EAC member states. Many Kenyans
have obtained formal education and are capable of reading and understanding English. Some member states
of the East African Community are still struggling with serious educational drawbacks in their academic
systems, and such people can hardly understand matters of integration. There is a special need to ensure
that everyone in East African is capable of reading and understanding English which is used as the main
language of communication in major countries of the world. A country like Tanzania has got the largest part
of her population unable to speak in English. The main language in Tanzania is Kiswahili which is common
in East Africa though the literate population by a hairs breadth use Kiswahili as the offcial language for
communication. In fact, the three newspapers categorically write in English. Language dynamics is a prickly
issue that should be addressed very well by the Media Relations Offce for the EAC. It is even recommendable
to have matters of the EAC published in various languages that the member states population can understand.
Topical Issues of Publication
It was important to know some of the most dominant topics and to understand the reasons behind such
dominancy in the publications in the three major newspapers across East Africa. Even before the reintegration
of the East African Community, there are some topics which were very common in the media of the various
East African states. Some of these topics are still very live in the media even after the reintegration. However,
there are some topics which have also emerged and have overtaken the previously dominant topics. One
of such a topic is security which has of late become a very important theme among the East African states.
This is probably due to the emergence of some insurgency groups in East Africa like the Al-shabaab Militia
group in Kenya, Uganda and Somalia and M23 Militia outft in the Democratic Republic of Congo. However
much some of these militia groups are not based in the member states of the EAC, their effects are very much
grievous to the East African Integration, and the security challenge is therefore a common denominator.
10
There are nine major topical issues which have received widespread reports in East African Community;
Matters that directly touch of Integration, Financial Matters, Infrastructure Development issues, Inter-
regional and Foreign Countries Interests, Policy Building Matters, Matters of the member States, The
East African Legislative Assembly, Security and Other Interested African Countries.
There are also some other topics like education which has also been discussed but it has not been given a very
wide coverage because of the different academic systems among the member states.
Example 1:
EAC Universities Offer Journalists Courses on Regional Issues
The EAC Institute for Regional Integration and Development and Catholic University of Eastern Africa
(CUEA) launched a Diploma programme by August, 2012 to train Journalists on Integration matters.
Example 2:
EAC Studies in University of Tanganyika
University of Lake Tanganyika has introduced courses for regional integration.
The distribution of the topical EAC matters that were widely reported between June to December, 2012. The
reports were covered in three regional newspapers, namely The East African Newspaper, The Daily Nation
and The Standard Newspapers.

Financial
Matters
Security Infrastructural
Development
Inter-regional
Relation
Integration
Matters
Reports
on the
Member
States
EACLA P o l i c y
Building
O t h e r
Interested
Countries
13 stories 6 stories 11 stories 8 stories 15 stories 1 6
stories
3 stories 1 0
stories
3 stories
12% 5% 10.8% 8% 14.8% 15.8% 2.9% 10% 2.9%
From the table above, its clear that the three Newspapers do prioritize matters that directly affect the East
African member states with over 15% percent of the reports done on the member states of the East African
Community. Its however interesting to note that most of the reports on matters that directly affect the East
African Countries were on Kenya. It had been noted that the above three regional newspapers are owned
by Kenyan companies. At the same time, Kenyan has got a lot more of stories that touch on East African
Integration than other countries. This is because Kenya will be going for a General Election in March 4, 2013
and all East African Countries are doing their very best to ensure that Kenya conducts a free, fair and peaceful
election after the 2007/8 election that led to violence in the disputed presidential poll. Most importantly to
note, Kenya has the strongest economic power in the East African Community; its more developed than any
of the EAC countries and has lots of economic activities that keep it in the media lights throughout.
The other factor is that two of the three newspapers analysed are Kenyas local dailies; The Daily Nation and
The Standard Newspapers. The two newspapers tend to concentrate more of the issues that directly affect
Kenya rather than other the East African countries.
Distribution of stories among the East African Community member states in the three regional newspapers
of the EAC.
No. of direct
Stories / country
Percentage
Kenya 9 Stories 56.25%
Uganda 1 Story 6.25%
Tanzania 3 Stories 18.75%
Rwanda 2 Stories 12.5%
Burundi 1 6.25%
Total no. of
stories on the
EAC member
countries
16 Stories
100%
11
There are nine major topical issues which have received widespread reports in East African Community;
Matters that directly touch of Integration, Financial Matters, Infrastructure Development issues, Inter-
regional and Foreign Countries Interests, Policy Building Matters, Matters of the member States, The
East African Legislative Assembly, Security and Other Interested African Countries.
There are also some other topics like education which has also been discussed but it has not been given a very
wide coverage because of the different academic systems among the member states.
Example 1:
EAC Universities Offer Journalists Courses on Regional Issues
The EAC Institute for Regional Integration and Development and Catholic University of Eastern Africa
(CUEA) launched a Diploma programme by August, 2012 to train Journalists on Integration matters.
Example 2:
EAC Studies in University of Tanganyika
University of Lake Tanganyika has introduced courses for regional integration.
The distribution of the topical EAC matters that were widely reported between June to December, 2012. The
reports were covered in three regional newspapers, namely The East African Newspaper, The Daily Nation
and The Standard Newspapers.

Financial
Matters
Security Infrastructural
Development
Inter-regional
Relation
Integration
Matters
Reports
on the
Member
States
EACLA P o l i c y
Building
O t h e r
Interested
Countries
13 stories 6 stories 11 stories 8 stories 15 stories 1 6
stories
3 stories 1 0
stories
3 stories
12% 5% 10.8% 8% 14.8% 15.8% 2.9% 10% 2.9%
From the table above, its clear that the three Newspapers do prioritize matters that directly affect the East
African member states with over 15% percent of the reports done on the member states of the East African
Community. Its however interesting to note that most of the reports on matters that directly affect the East
African Countries were on Kenya. It had been noted that the above three regional newspapers are owned
by Kenyan companies. At the same time, Kenyan has got a lot more of stories that touch on East African
Integration than other countries. This is because Kenya will be going for a General Election in March 4, 2013
and all East African Countries are doing their very best to ensure that Kenya conducts a free, fair and peaceful
election after the 2007/8 election that led to violence in the disputed presidential poll. Most importantly to
note, Kenya has the strongest economic power in the East African Community; its more developed than any
of the EAC countries and has lots of economic activities that keep it in the media lights throughout.
The other factor is that two of the three newspapers analysed are Kenyas local dailies; The Daily Nation and
The Standard Newspapers. The two newspapers tend to concentrate more of the issues that directly affect
Kenya rather than other the East African countries.
Distribution of stories among the East African Community member states in the three regional newspapers
of the EAC.
No. of direct
Stories / country
Percentage
Kenya 9 Stories 56.25%
Uganda 1 Story 6.25%
Tanzania 3 Stories 18.75%
Rwanda 2 Stories 12.5%
Burundi 1 6.25%
Total no. of
stories on the
EAC member
countries
16 Stories
100%

Political issues on integration are very vital to the
community, though the reports on integration only
takes 14.8% of the total topical issues reported within
a period of six months. To date, there are a number
of misconceptions on the East African Integration,
and probably its because of the overlooked reports
done by the regional Journalists who also work for
particular local media houses.
Its no doubt that local matters will sell better in
a local newspaper as compared to selling regional
information to a local population. This is because
the media has not been able to change the mentality
of the people of the East African States. Not unless,
the people of East African Community begin to
see themselves as citizens of one country, it will be
diffcult to manage the integration matters. Doubts,
misconception and fears will still exist. Its the role
of the Media Relations to ensure that information
coverage of matters on the East African Community
is raised from 14.8% to more than 42%. This can
only be achieved when there is a very competent East
African Community Media Relations Offce that
will be able to spread the East African Integration
agenda above any other thing.
Misapprehension on the Formation of the East
African Community That Media
Relation Would Address
When we arrived from Nairobi to attend a
conference in Arusha Tanzania. We talked to the
taxi driver who picked us up on his views about the
East Africa Community. He said, hiyo East Africa
itawafdi waKenya tu (That East Africa will only
beneft the Kenyans). Why? I asked him. He said
that the EAC will only beneft Kenyans because the
Kenyan economy is good, their currency is strong
and Kenyans are developed in varied. So they will
be more aggressive and beneft more than the other
East African Community members. His conclusion?
Sioni haja ya hiyo EAC kwa Watanzania. I do not
see the relevance of the EAC to Tanzanians.
Interestingly, a colleague with whom we picked the
same cab to New Mwanza hotel had asked this same
question to the taxi driver who took him to Jomo
Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi. The Kenyan
answer: Let this EAC take off very fast. We want to go
to Tanzania and acquire property and also do business.
Of course both scenarios are different one totally
rejecting the idea of the EAC and the other totally
accepting the idea and even longing for EAC to take
off immediately. Yet, what is common in these two
illustrations is that both are wrong factually, because
their acceptance or rejection of the EAC is based on
their fears and misconception.
These misconceptions translate into FEAR, that is,
what Mbae (2012) calls False Evidence Appearing
Real.
These two people represent many other men, women
and youth across the fve member states of EAC who
are either excited and longing for the realization of the
EAC, or nervous and praying daily that the Association
does not take off. Of course, their reasons are also
based on many fears and misconception.
And this thus brings us to the gist of my paper, which
examines The Role of Media Relations in Enabling
the East African Community Realize its Vision and
Mission
The Fears and Misconceptions over the Formation
of East African Community
1.0 There are fears and suspicion by EAC governments,
ordinary citizens and the political elite.
2.0 There is a lot of fallow land in Tanzania and the
Kikuyus of Kenya will come to grab/occupy it.
3.0 The EAC will weaken the Kenyan shilling
4.0 The high standards of Kenyan education and
economy will be weakened by the EAC
5.0 Some countries stand to beneft more while others
will just lose if the EAC is established
12
6.0 People will come here (and here could be Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, or Burundi) to take our jobs
7.0 EAC will bring instability in our countries Rwanda Genocide, Kenyas post-election violence, etc
8.0 Kenya will dominate the region
9.0 Fear of losing cultural identity that we shall cease to be who we are (Kenyans, Ugandans, Tanzanians,
etc)
In Terms of Media Relations, what do we already have & what can we strengthen?
1.0 There already exists varied reputable Print and Electronic media in the region which could be used
to front the EAC agenda. For instance, there is the East African newspaper, EATV, and EARadio, and the EAC
website.
2.0 The other key initiatives that EAC has is the Training of Journalists on Reporting Regional
Integration. That is, journalists for the region, not just for ones country. The EAC should employ EAC
media practitioners.
3.0 It is crucial to establish periodic media briefs to update EAC members. What is happening at the
moment is sporadic (random, infrequent) reporting of EAC by member state journalists, and depending on
what they want to highlight i.e. selective reporting about other countries or total blackout until there will be
BREAKING NEWS from that country.
Critiques on the Media Relations for East African Community
One of the most critical areas within any corporate communication function is the media relations department.
This is because the media are both a constituency (community/population) and a conduit (medium, means of
expression) through which investors, employees, and consumers receive information about and form images
of a company. This makes it a make or break entity that at the same time no organization can do without.
1.0 One of the critiques of media usage of the EAC is that the real issues that hamper the growth of the EAC
are not effectively addressed. Kimanuka stresses that the reasons that led to the collapse of the EAC way
back in 1971 have not been adequately addressed. There still exists suspicion and lack of trust among
member states on issues such as the ongoing discussions on Monetary Union and others (Kimanuka,
2012)
2.0 The EACs media relations further suggests that a lot of information is divulged through newspapers and
notices. However, this information does not penetrate to its publics. Thus a majority of East Africans are
still largely unaware of EACs policies and programmes.
3.0 Moreover, the media recognizes the challenge of poor infrastructure in the EAC member countries, which
has been a setback in our overall progress. The EACs media relations practice model tends to be the Public
Information model characterized by one-way communication. In a report by Kituo Cha Katiba (KCK),
EACs communication strategy is described as weak both at the EAC Headquarters and in each of the
member states. The Treaty has never been translated into Kiswahili, a language commonly used in the region.
13
The report found that the greatest majority of
people interviewed and consulted knew nothing
or very little about the EAC Treaty as there
was lack of adequate and relevant information.
KCK through interviews also established that
people regarded the evolution of EAC as a top-
down and not a bottom-up process with limited
involvement of the ordinary person.
Recommendations on the Media
Relation for East African Community
1.0 The EAC should therefore adopt model four
of the excellence theory by Jim Grunig and
Todd Hunt 1984, i.e. a 2-way symmetrical
model whereby PR pros listen to the
concerns of both clients and key publics
and help them adapt to one another. This
will ensure that a balanced picture is given,
which will be inclusive of the pros and cons
of EAC. The EAC should use this model
to continually communicate its vision and
mission to its key publics and stakeholders.
A scientifc-based research should be carried
out and with the new information acquired,
the fears and misconceptions that the publics
have about regional integration of the EAC
will ensure trust, transparency and overall
mutual benefts to all parties.
2.0 It is imperative that EAC must create better
media relations by having several media
briefngs to ensure that the media know
who-is-who in the organization and also
to be able to forge rapports with them. In
addition, the EAC can update the media by
sending information to them often, to enable
them have better relationships.
3.0 Finally, the EACs media relations offce
can learn from other countries which have been
successful in forming such structures. A good
example is the European Union, which consists
of 27 European countries and has developed
into a huge single market with the euro as its
common currency. However, the EAC media
relations offce needs to contextualize the ideas
acquired from the European Union to the EAC
as some of the challenges faced by the East
Africa countries such as poor infrastructure
may not be a challenge in other developed parts
of the world.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the role of media relations is defnitely
necessary for any organization including the East
African Community. The strategic role based on the
most effective model of media relations, the two-way
symmetrical model can enable it to realize its vision
and mission. It can do this by involving all the relevant
publics and ensuring that they know and understand
the importance of regional integration.
This can be done through agenda setting which can
be done effectively if the EAC forms and maintains a
good relationship with the media as well as makes use
of appropriate tools and techniques in disseminating
information. These tools and techniques include; press
releases, press conferences, media monitoring and
research and advertising.
References
Abayeho, G. (2012, August 10). Resolutions of the
5th East Africa Media Summit. Retrieved
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www.presidence.bi/spip.php?article2905
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mediccom.org/public/tadmat/training/ndms/
mediarelationsarticle.pdf
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europa.eu/about-eu/basic-information/index _en.htm
UNDERSTANDING THE OBLIGATION OF MEDIA IN THE EAST
AFRICAN COMMUNITY INTEGRATION PROCESS
By
Obar Mark; E-mail: obarrmark@gmail.com Cell: +254 728762356