The narrative of a witness

Abstract On a regular basis, the news and other shows and documentaries on East African television feature various stories not only about events in politics and society, but also of personal fates related to them. In addition to the presenters, citizens of East African countries share their perspectives on how they experienced events. This paper focuses on the way in which these speakers tell their stories on a Kenyan TV show. It will show how the common ritual oral tradition in Swahili, also well-established in everyday conversation, is recontextualized in the media and therefore brought from the ritual frame to the digital context, where it is supposed to fulfill a particular purpose in favor of the TV program. Therefore, the presenters instrumentalize the narratives’ inherent linguistic practices applied by their witnesses to engage viewers in their program.