Image Repair Discourse of Kenya Police facing a Scandal

Abstract

The present study aims to analyze image repair strategies employed in press releases issued by the Kenya police. The main aim of the  study was to analyze the linguistic resources of image repair strategies in press releases issued by the Kenya police. This study took the  reporting periods from 30th March 2008 until 30th May 2012. Seven press releases were selected for analysis: Torture in Turkana, Mount Elgon operation saves lives, Criminal acts attributed to Mungiki, Human Rights Watch Report, brief on the explosion at Kampala coach  offices, Allegations on the conspiracy of silence, and a Report on Post-Election Violence. Three major linguistic strategies are adopted:  denial, reducing the offensiveness of the event, and corrective action. For this study, the linguistic resources used were the use of active,  and passive voice and the use of modal auxiliary verbs constructions.