Kenyan Newspapers

A comprehensive guide to Kenyan Newspapers and breaking news from Kenya and East Africa

The most important Kenyan Newspapers are the Daily Nation,The East African Standard,The Coastweek,The Kenyan Times Newspaper and Kenya Daily.The breaking news from Kenya at the bottom of the page are powered by allafrica.com . 

The challenge of press freedom  ( by The Rough Guide to Kenya 2005 )

In March 1999,the veteran KANU politician and Minister of Home Affairs,Shariff Nassir,twice publicly threatened the press with "problems" if they persisted in "printing lies" and "criticizing the government".The press duly responded by reporting his threats verbatim,together with essays pointing out that Kenya had progressed,however shakily,from dictatorship to an area of demogracy,and that the threats were those of a man clearly out of step with the times.The infamous sedation laws which had previsiously gagged the media were repealed in 1997, and Nassir's threats were shrugged off . However,after so many decades of dictatorship and press control,Kenya's newfound freedoms are far from guaranteed.Although established high-circulation dailies like the Nation and the Standard seem able to criticize with relative impunity,the government is still a dab hand at more sinister forms of censorship.In March 1998,the newly appointed Information and Broadcasting Minister Joseph Nyagah accused an unamed section of the press of "taking advantage" of the lax laws to conduct a "vicious campaign" to undermine presidential authority and national stability.At the end of the month,Moi himself ordered the closure of the Star newspaper,for having reported on the armed forces.At the same time,the Nation group's radio and TV licence was cancelled,allegedly due to a dispute with a local businessman,but the Nation claimed a the decision demonstrated "a deep-seated fear of truth in public life and the values of free expression". The Nation was sanctioned early in 1999,for publishing a leaked document from the Akiwumi tribal clashes inquiry,for which it was banned from reporting for a month.Other papers are treated less kindly: the editors and owners of the magazines Finance and Law Monthly ,both of which favour scandalous headlines accusing one politician or another of corruption,repeatedly face arrest and the impounding of their presses or files,as does the long-suffering editor of Kenya Confidential,who seems to spend more time in jail than out. Despite this far from perfect envirement,the advances in press freedom over the last few years are remarkable,and have played an instrumental part in pushing Kenya from dictatorship towards democracy.With donor pressure still very much on Kenya to comply with their conditions of more democracy and accountability,these press freedoms seems likely to continue - at least as long the donors keep up the pressure. However,the government's control over the executive and judiciary remains tight and threatsbfrom the likes of Nassir,at present taken lightly by the press,may still be realized.Whatever the climate for local journalists,there is no doubt that Kenya is one of the best places in Africa in which to work as a foreign correspondend.Based mostly at Chester house in Nairobi (and largely unimpeded if not greatly encouraged) ,foreign reporters put Kenya ,more than most other African countries,under intense international scrutiny.Responding to their reports in a robust,credible fashion,however,has never been the government's strong point.  

	Web www.dianibeach.co.uk

Kenya Daily Latest news from World News Network

The East African published weekly by the Nation Group

THE PRESS ( by the Rough Guide to Kenya 2005 )

Kenya is a nation absorbed in its press.Despite continued suppression,the Kenyan press has enjoyed a renaissance since the unbanning of the opposition in 1992,and there are many magazines and occasional papers,all of which carry interesting articles from time to time and often surprise their readers with outspokenness.The leading quality daily is the Daily Nation and Sunday Nation,part-owned by the Aga Khan,which has meaty news coverage,international too,as well as Eurropean football results,a daring editorial line,and a letters page full of insights into Kenyan life.Its main competitor,the East African Standard,is dull and lightweight in comparison,but usually carries more international news.The People ,whose logo"Fair,Frank and Fearless" is about right ,and which verges on the scurrilous,looks a lot scrappier and arrives later on the newsstands than The Nation and The Standard,but is more incisive and carries more internatinal news than both,though less sports.Less worthwhile is the Kenya Times,a stodgy KANU organ,partly owned by Britain's Mirror Group Newspapers.The Nation Group also publishes the excellent and highly recommended The East African on Mondays,a relatively weighty,conservative styled round-up of the week's news in Kenya,Uganda and Tanzania,shot through with an admirable measure of justified cynicism.Its own reporting is consistently incisive,intelligent and though-provoking, and it also carries the cream of the foreign press new features.All are available from street vendors.Of other papers,Taifa Leo and Kenya Leo are in Swahili.The Weekly Review is always worth picking up as are Society,Law and Finance - if you can find any copies that have not been confiscated for one crime the pen or another.In similar vein,Kenya Confidential is not easy to come by outside Nairobi,and features painfully detailed exposes on corruption and the manifold misdeeds of Kenyan politicians.Its editor really should consider moving his office to Nairobi prison,as he gets thrown in there with alarming frequency.Of the foreign press the UK Daily Telegraph gets to all sorts of settler-ish bastions,as does the the Daily Express-both have weekly editions that are often available. Other British papers and the International Herald Tribune can usually be found in Nairobi or,a few days old,at one or two stores around the country.They tend,however ,to be unavailable when Kenya's internal affairs make international news.British tabloids are usually available ,several days late.Time and Newsweek are hawked widely and together with old National Geographics and copies of The Economist,filter through many hands before reaching the second hand booksellers.

Newspapers and Magazines in Kenya by Lonely Planet 2005

Tabloid newspapers are printed in both English and Swahili.Of the three English language papers,the best is the Daily Nation,which has local and overseas coverage,and a good no-nonsense attitude.It is very brave in its political coverage.The others are are the KANU mouthpiece Kenya Times and the reliable East African Standard.The East African is a decent weekly paper covering important stories in depth and is published by the Nation group.There is also a good range of locally produced magazines in both English and Swahili.Principal among these is the Weekly Review,which is the Kenyan equivalent of Time and Newsweek.Radicals berate this magazine as being a tool of government propaganda,but it is still a good read .Foreign newspapers up to a week old in English,French,Italian and German are readily available in Mombasa and Nairobi,but vary greatly in price depending on where you buy them.Current affairs magazines such as Time,Newsweek, and New African are also widely available at a controlled price that is printed on the front cover.New African is the best of the bunch if you are looking for detailed coverage of African affairs and events.It is published monthly.Note that some magazines sold by street vendors can be very out of date .

 C   2005 Please help to keep this website up to date ! The webmaster will be happy for any suggestions concerning Newspapers,articles,weblinks,etc regarding Newspapers and similar regarding Kenya and East Africa mailto:gundrum@btinternet.com