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UNCLAS NAIROBI 002656 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
DEPT FOR AF/PPD WHARTON, KEMP, STRASSBERGER 
IIP MURPHY, DOMOWITZ 
AF/E DRIANO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KPAO KMDR KE
SUBJECT: Kenya's Media: Part III- Media Houses and Cross Ownership 
 
REF: NAIROBI 2640; NAIROBI 2646 
 
¶1. (U) Summary.  This is the third part of a four-part report on 
the state of the Kenyan Media.  The parts are:  1) Overview and the 
new media law; 2) Radio Stations; 3) Media Houses and Cross 
Ownership; and 4) Role of the media and New Trends.  A handful of 
media houses dominate and even manipulate the Kenyan Media. 
Shunning media pluralism, these media houses wield enormous 
influence over the Kenyan public through their "symbiotic" 
relationship with the political elite.  Despite the government's 
attempt to remove irregularities including rampant media 
concentration, many fear that well-protected media houses will 
gradually absorb the smaller, regional stations which have limited 
sources of revenue, leaving listeners with only two or three 
sources for their news.  End summary. 
 
 
 
--------------------- 
 
Media Moguls of Kenya 
 
--------------------- 
 
 
 
¶2.  (SBU) After 40 years of an "open" market, a handful of media 
houses have emerged to dominate the Kenyan media.  They have 
collectively share about 90 percent of the media audience. 
 
 
 
--Nation Media Group:  The single, most dominant media group, 
Nation Media, is owned by the Aga Khan.  The Daily Nation newspaper 
is the Group's flagship outlet in Kenya.  Nation Media also 
publishes the Business Daily, a daily on business news and Taifa 
Leo, a Kiswahili daily and the East African, a weekly.  The Group's 
broadcast side is represented by NTV and two radio stations - Easy 
FM and Q FM.  Nation Media's chief executive is Linus Gitahi, of 
the Kikuyu tribe, and the managing editor is Joseph Odindo, of the 
Luo tribe.  The management of the Group is predominantly Kikuyu. 
Recently, the former CEO of Nation Media and current chief advisor 
of President Kibaki's Party of National Unity (PNU), Wilfred 
Kiboro, was re-installed as a board member, a move which many see 
as the PNU's attempt to ensure pro-PNU and possibly anti-reform 
coverage as Kenya prepares for presidential elections in two years. 
Kiboro, in turn, brought back Dennis Luanga, the man he groomed to 
be the next Chief Executive during his 12-year tenure as CEO. 
Kiboro never forgot the bitter defeat when Gitahi moved to the 
position that was supposed to be "reserved" for his chosen 
successor, Luanga.  The open strife between Gitahi and Kiboro is 
obvious to many and creating difficulties for the company.  Some, 
including Macharia Gaitho, Chairman of the Editors' Guild and 
Nation columnist, say that this kind of bad business practices - 
instituting a powerful PNU man to keep an eye on the paper - will 
put the Nation behind more progressive and modern groups.  Indeed, 
we have noticed a sharp deterioration of the Nation's coverage of 
the reform agenda, including U.S. Mission's active involvement with 
civil society and youth activists.  Nation Media runs NTV Uganda, 
KFM radio station and publishes the Monitor and the Sunday Monitor 
in Uganda, and also publishes Tanzania's leading Kiswahili 
newspaper, Mwananchi, and English dally, the Citizen. 
 
 
 
--Royal Media Services:  The owner, Samuel Kamau (aka SK) Macharia, 
is a shrewd businessman, who tends to stand outside rules and 
regulations.  He has weathered many legal battles and constantly 
rumored to have business and political run-ins with his fast 
shifting partners.  Royal Media Services runs Citizen TV and its 
vast network throughout Kenya and 22 FM stations.  Citizen TV is 
considered best for local content programming and known for the 
best coverage of the reform agenda.  Well connected to powerful 
politicians of all factions, Macharia has enlarged his broadcast 
empire by initiating the trend for vernacular stations.  He is 
reputed to have many "idle" frequencies for further expansion. 
Macharia purchased U.S. equipment valued at about USD 500,000 7 
years ago.  He paid $6,000 at the time of purchase but has refused 
to pay the difference, claiming that the purchased equipment was 
 
 
confiscated by the then-Moi regime.  EximBank has pursued him to 
recover the amount owed but Macharia has no intention to pay back. 
Macharia's many stations have a re-broadcast contract with the VOA 
and carry VOA programs.  Despite his unscrupulous business 
practices, Macharia will continue to be a force to be reckoned with 
because of his well-established reputation as the best local news 
deliverer and unbeatable understanding of the Kenyan media market. 
 
 
 
--Standard Group:  The Standard Group belongs to former President 
Moi and his business and political associates.  It runs KTN TV, the 
Standard Daily newspaper and Simba FM.  It openly supported the 
Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party during/after the 2007 
presidential elections.  One single theme that the Standard Group 
has focused on is its anti-PNU agenda with a goal of being a 
leading critic of President Kibaki.  Twice, the Kibaki family 
protested against what it claimed to be "unfair" coverage by the 
Group.  In 2006, thugs suspected to be government (PNU) hires 
raided KTN, dismantling and confiscating equipment.   Since then, 
the Standard Group has regularly played the role of a victim of 
government media interference and harassment.  The Group acquired 
Simba FM station in February but has not yet retooled it.  A 
popular and well-spoken KTN talk-show hostess, Beatrice Marshall, 
clearly understands the Group's direction and delivers anti-PNU 
messages regularly. 
 
 
 
--Radio Africa:  Owned by Ghanaian Patrick Qurckoo and Kenyan 
Kiprono Kittony (of the Kalenjin tribe), the Radio Africa Group 
runs six FM stations, two TV stations and publishes a daily, the 
Star.  Popular Classic FM, KISS FM, XFM, Smooth FM and Jambo FM all 
belong to the Radio Africa Group.  It owns 42 frequencies and plans 
to expand to use up "idle" frequencies in the near future.  Known 
to be master of radio broadcasting, and savvy and timely business 
decisions, Radio Africa is one of the most powerful media house in 
Kenya. 
 
 
 
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New Kid on the Block and Old Stand-bys 
 
-------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶3.  (SBU) New Merger by the Kenyatta family:  In September, 2009, a 
new merger emerged, combining K-24 TV, Kameme FM station and the 
People's Daily.  K-24 and Kameme were previously owned by 
journalist-turned businesswoman, Rose Kimotho, while the People's 
Daily was owned by a veteran politician Kenneth Matiba.  The 
Kenyatta family is believed to be the new investor.  Kiprono 
Kittony, Chairman of the Radio Africa Group, said, the Kenyatta 
connection is "factually true but legally untrue," because as in 
many cases in Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta's name does not appear in any 
of the legal documents of the merger.  According to Rose Kimotho, 
who will continue to manage K-24 and Kameme FM, K-24 will expand 
and go national before the end of the year.  The new group which 
has an aggressive expansion plan to claim its share of the media 
market will give Uhuru Kenyatta a direct control over three media 
-- newspaper, radio and television.  The purchase was to give the 
family bigger space in the political arena through systematic media 
campaign.  Kenyatta also owns a strangely stale STV, which relies 
mostly on Al Jazeera TV. 
 
 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Alternative Press:  During the one-party era in the 90s, 
when mainstream media were under siege, it was the alternative 
press -- known as the gutter press -- that Kenyans heavily relied 
on to catch a glimpse of the Kenyan political system.  It was the 
source of stories and scandals the mainstream largely avoided 
publishing.  Daring to criticize the one-party regime, the gutter 
press was often harassed, intimidated, and charged in court. 
Charges included incitement, sedition, and causing alarm and 
despondency.  Frequently, printing equipment was confiscated by the 
government's security agents. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Examples of gutter publications that were at the 
forefront of democratization included Society Magazine, edited by 
Pius Nyamora who took refuge in the United States; Nairobi Law 
Monthly edited by human rights lawyer Gitobu Imanya (now a member 
of parliament); and Njehu Gatabaki's Finance magazine.  The Law 
Monthly and Society are now defunct, partly because of the pressure 
from the government and expenses incurred by court cases. 
 
 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Even today, the gutter press is popular in streets in 
Kenyan urban centers.  These low-cost publications focus on 
half-baked stories about politics and lives of prominent Kenyans. 
Unlicensed to publish in most cases, they are still subject to 
frequent police raids and defamation charges by targeted 
politicians.  Presently, the most sensational publication of the 
gutter press is the Weekly Citizen whose investigative stories have 
often led to police raids on its editorial bureaus and some of its 
writers are on the run to avoid arrest. 
 
 
 
----------------------------------- 
 
Cross Ownership: Curse or Blessing? 
 
----------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Many believe that the Kenyan media is controlled and even 
"manipulated" by a small number of wealthy and well-connected 
people.  The media owners maintain that their hard work and 
business know-how put them ahead of the curve and see no damaging 
effect of a small group owning multiple media outlets across 
different forms of media (called media cross ownership in Kenya). 
They maintain that the situation was created by default, not by 
design and cross ownership creates synergy and more economical way 
in the media industry as many outlets could utilize the same set of 
journalists for information gathering.  They often cite that KTN 
TV, the Standard Group's television station survived only because 
of the profits from the Standard Daily, one of the two major 
newspapers in Kenya that belong to the same group.  Radio Africa 
claims that its daily newspaper, the Star, was "resuscitated" by 
the groups many lucrative FM stations.  Some even argue that the 
small advertisement market, totaling USD 270 million annually, 
could not manage further "fragmentation," by allowing the entry of 
small broadcasters into the market and cannot absorb more than the 
handful media houses currently active in Kenya.  They are also 
quick to point out conspicuous cases of media concentration in the 
West such as Sylvio Berlusconi in Italy and Ruppert Murdock in the 
U.S. 
 
 
 
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Perils Abound 
 
------------- 
 
 
 
¶8.  (SBU) The government makes sporadic attempts to rein in the 
media when they expose government wrongdoings too explicitly. 
There are a multitude of libel cases pending against most major 
media houses.  The Standard Group alone has 200 cases.  Minister of 
Finance Uhuru Kenyatta clashed both with editors of the Nation and 
the Standard.  In May, he started a legal procedure against the 
Nation over the "typing error" saga of the missing KSH 10 billion 
from the budget.  He has sued the Nation's cartoonist who drew a 
series of caricatures based on the budget fiasco for libel.  Uhuru 
also sued the Standard Group for airing the Prime Minister's 
statement alleging him to be the leader of Mungiki, an illegal 
youth group accused of a series of violence.  President Kibaki's 
children filed a complaint against the Standard Group for 
publishing statement that the president himself might have been 
 
involved in the planning the government raid to the KTN.  A long 
list of MPs, cabinet ministers and heads of government agencies 
implicated the media for their "unfair" and damaging coverage in 
pending libel suits.  In July, a Star journalist was detained for 
his coverage of how the Kenyan Anti-Terrorism Police Unit lost 
sensitive files on Fazul Mohammed, the terrorist who masterminded 
the bombing of an Israeli hotel in Mombasa in 2002, and might have 
been sold off. 
 
 
 
-------------------------------------- 
 
Media Owners Association: Powerful Lot 
 
-------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Sheila Amdany, Executive Secretary of the Media Owners' 
Association, called the association, a "powerful lot which is not 
genuinely interested in what is happening in Kenya but is skilled 
to play the power game."  Acquiring new freedoms in the 90s, the 
media did not know how to use it and it is still learning the role 
it should play for a transition society like Kenya, she added. 
Generally speaking, the Kenyan media enjoy unbridled media freedom 
until the recent media law and new regulations (reftel A).  Most 
media houses are driven either by an ambitious business model 
(Radio Africa), as political platforms (Standard Group and the new 
Kenyatta Group) or both (Nation Media and Royal Media Services). 
 
 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Despite the mounting number of court cases against 
certain journalists by the government and political elite, powerful 
media houses continue to thrive.  Sometimes, media owners strike at 
the political elite class with a highly visible media campaign.  In 
October, media owners accused MPs of spreading ethnic chauvinism in 
the country, then turning their fury against the media when their 
behavior is exposed by it.  All major media reported the spat 
between media owners and MPs.  The Parliament's House of 
Broadcasting Committee, in turn, accused media outlets for 
"disseminating propaganda against MPs to the masses." 
 
 
 
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Comment 
 
------- 
 
 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Whenever the government tries to impose new controls on 
the media industry, it is met with stiff resistance.  The CCK, the 
government body to be mandated to implement broadcast regulations, 
does not appear to have the political support to take on the media 
owners, especially those with the right political connections. 
There is also no clear sign that the government is ready to 
undertake any radical changes.  The current media landscape where 
competition is stifled and potential investors are turned away will 
continue.  An increasing concentration of news providers, some with 
obvious political biases, could offset possibilities for greater 
media pluralism. 
RANNEBERGER