A new regional study reveals Kenya recorded the highest number of media stories on sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and femicide between January 2024 and April 2025 in East Africa.

• Kenya accounted for 54 per cent of total stories, followed by Tanzania at 28 per cent and Uganda at 18 per cent.
• The report, titled Media Framing of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence and Femicide in East Africa, found coverage was "robust yet uneven," with Kenyan media leading due to institutional support like gender desks in newsrooms such as the Nation Media Group.
• While 90 per cent of stories portrayed victims sympathetically, only 6 per cent explicitly framed perpetrators as responsible, a gap that risks “depoliticising gender violence by overemphasising victims’ suffering at the expense of systemic failures and justice outcomes.”
• Government officials dominated as main actors in coverage at 21 per cent, with perpetrators featuring in only 3 per cent of stories, which the report states “mutes accountability and reinforces impunity.”