Political Persuasion through Multimodal Message Frames: A study of Raila Odinga and William Ruto’s 2022 Presidential Campaign Speeches

Abstract

This study examined the multimodal message frames in the 2022 presidential campaign speeches of Raila Odinga and William Ruto and the framing strategies employed in their construction. The study was guided by Framing Theory by Gamson and Modigliani and the Semiotic Theory of Multimodality by Bezemer and Jewitt. The population comprised televised campaign speeches of Raila Odinga and William Ruto broadcast by Citizen Television, NTV, and KTN between January 2021 and 9 August 2022. Three televised campaign speeches for each presidential candidate were purposively selected. The units of analysis were political campaign message frames in the speeches and voters’ responses obtained through questionnaires and interviews. The televised speech recordings were downloaded from YouTube and transcribed. Data were coded deductively based on the theoretical frameworks. Analysis employed interpretive packages proposed by Gamson and Modigliani, the Semiotic Theory of Multimodality by Bezemer and Jewitt, and linguistic annotations. The findings revealed that both candidates employed diverse framing strategies in constructing political campaign message frames. However, they did not consistently use equal numbers or types of messages across campaigns held in different parts of the country. Although most message frames were similar in type, their wording and deployment differed. For instance, in frames constructed through catchphrases and rhetorical questions, one candidate repeatedly used catchphrases, pausing extensively to allow the messages to resonate before repeating them. The study concludes that multimodal framing strategies varied in their deployment across candidates and campaign contexts. The findings contribute to understanding multimodal political message framing in African presidential campaigns and inform scholars, politicians, and political communication professionals.