Print Media Portrayal Of Islam And Muslims And Its Influence On Christian-muslim Relations In Nairobi County, Kenya

This study focuses on print media portrayal of Islam and Muslims and its influence on Christian-Muslim relations in Nairobi County. Islam has been accused of encouraging violence and Muslims perceived as people who thrive in violence. Islam enjoins its members to embrace peace and harmonious inter- faith coexistence. Print media as a powerful source of Christians’ knowledge about Islam and Muslims could have led to shaping of the opinion. The objectives of the study are:  to evaluate the Islamic teachings on peace and harmonious Christian- Muslim relations; to establish how Islam and Muslims are portrayed in the print media in Kenya; to assess how portrayal of Islam by the print media affects the Christian-Muslim relations in Nairobi County and to provide strategies for the print media to present a more objective image of Islam and Muslims to enhance Christian- Muslim relations. The study has been guided by semiotic theory in particular Representamen and Intepretant concepts. Representamen means something that does a representing while Intepretant denotes meaning. The study uses Descriptive Survey Design as it is qualitative in nature. Primary data collection has been through self-administered questionnaires and scheduled interviews. Data presentation and analysis was in form of narrations and simple descriptive statistics like tables, percentages and graphs. The study found that Islam is a religion of peace and Muslims are supposed to be pacifists. Peace is made to be a key part of Islamic culture through such fundamental elements like the name Islam and the greetings. Muslims are enjoined to practice compassion, forgiveness, moderation and interfaith tolerance as key pillars of peace. However, the reported cases of radicalism practiced by some few members in Nairobi North District and all over the world cause Islam to appear violent and intolerant. The print media in Kenya portrays Islam and Muslims to be warlike. Mainstream newspapers misreport the personalities of both Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and Allah where they are portrayed as encouraging intolerance. Violence is seen as core teachings in Islam taught by the sheikhs in the mosques. This study established that print media influences Christians perceptions on Islam and Muslims contributing to Islamophobia and sometimes tension. The ideologies of radical Islamists which are reported in media and their use of Islam to justify their aggression make it difficult for the Christians to distinguish between militancy and Islam. Christians think that Islam teaches its adherents to hate non- Muslims and fight them. The Christian- Muslims relations tend to be tense. The study has recommended the media to adopt sensitive reporting to promote positive coexistence between Christians and Muslims in Nairobi County. Media practitioners need to exercise peace journalism to help in enhancing interfaith pluralism despite the existence of radical Islamism. This will promote Christian- Muslim dialogue in the efforts to build peace rather than creating diversity.