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UNCLAS NAIROBI 002662 
 
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 IV - Role of the Media and New Trends 
 
REF: NAIROBI 2640; NAIROBI 2646; NAIROBI 2656 
 
¶1. (U) Summary.  This is the last 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.  The rapid growth of media 
outlets in Kenya has set a new trend in motion: competition for 
talented journalists who can deliver locality-specific, 
region-specific content that makes stations stand out.  A few large 
media houses have compensated for the dearth of qualified 
journalists with more focused training, while others have engaged 
in a recruiting war.  Mobile phone and Internet-based media is on 
the rise while digitalization is set to be completed by 2012.  Some 
in the Kenyan media, instead of playing a constructive role for the 
country at a crossroads, foment political acrimony and tribalism. 
Kenyan civil society leaders have called for constructive and 
dynamic media engagement that would help Kenya's reform efforts. 
End summary. 
 
 
 
--------------- 
 
Winning Content 
 
--------------- 
 
 
 
¶2.  (SBU) The word is out: it does not take much to start a radio 
station.  A small room with minimal equipment manned by 2-3 
"journalists" is sufficient.  An increasing number of stations are 
fighting for limited advertisement resources.  Kiprono Kittony, 
Chairman of Radio Africa told us he believes that the market is 
unhealthily fragmented, with too many media outlets fighting for 
limited advertising resources, which total USD 270 million 
annually.  Media owners understand well that in the end, it is the 
content that will secure a market share. 
 
 
 
¶3.  (U) The crowded market means that each outlet needs to find its 
own niche through content that sets it apart from others and that 
is produced and delivered by qualified journalists.  The 
increasingly competitive market and limited number of qualified 
journalists have set off a war for talent and more regionalization 
of content as each station searches for a niche.  Nation Media, for 
example, each year trains twenty young professionals which it 
recruits throughout East Africa, with a goal of establishing a 
cadre of elite journalists.  Popular anchors have been the objects 
of a bidding war.  Not long after Capital FM's morning talk show 
duo interviewed visiting Secretary of State Clinton, they were 
recruited by the Radio Africa Group to its start-up station, X FM. 
 
 
 
 
------------------------------ 
 
Too Easy to Become Journalist? 
 
------------------------------ 
 
 
 
¶4.  (U) Without exception, all media owners cited the poor quality 
of Kenyan journalists as one of the obstacles to modernizing the 
Kenyan media.  The majority of Kenyan journalists have been 
educated in two schools of journalism.  The School of Journalism at 
the University of Nairobi began offering a full-fledged degree 
course five years ago; until then it offered a specialized 
journalism curriculum with no degree.  The Government-owned Kenya 
Institute of Mass Communications (KIMC) was originally designed to 
provide "media experts" to the Ministry of Information.  It later 
expanded its curriculum. 
 
¶5.  (U) Lately, other universities such as the USIU, Daystar, Moi 
and Egerton universities have launched journalism departments of 
their own.  There are many small journalistic training centers in 
Kenya's urban centers, which provide cheap and quick courses for 
those who want to join the media with a minimum of training. 
Unfortunately, even fully-accredited institutions lack basic 
facilities.  Many see a direct connection between the lack of 
professional training and sub-standard delivery of the multitude of 
FM stations, particularly the vernacular ones. 
 
 
 
------------ 
 
Going Mobile 
 
------------ 
 
 
 
¶6.  (U) Lack of access to the Internet has been hindering the 
spread of any new media in Kenya.  Blogging, facebook and other new 
media have been slow to develop.  Major daily newspapers all 
sponsor blogs but entries tend to feature letters to the editor; 
they do not serve as a forum for discussion and engagement.  Most 
popular and relatively well-maintained blogs are 
rafiki-kenya.blospot.com; bankelele.blogspot.com;afromusing.com; 
kenyagayouth.blogspot.com; kenyapoet.blogspot.com and ushahidi.com. 
One breakthrough has been the distribution of media postings via 
mobile telephone.  In an arrangement with Safaricom, a leading 
telecommunications company in Kenya, VOA provides daily, updated 
audio and video stories to cell phone subscribers.  Approximately 
ten million Kenyans subscribe to the Safaricom service.  The Nation 
Media Group has a similar arrangement with Zain, another telecom 
company.  Most radio talk shows take sms questions from their 
listeners. 
 
 
 
-------------- 
 
Digitalization 
 
-------------- 
 
 
 
¶7.  (U) Test runs for digital broadcasting in Kenya began in 
October this year, prompting a rush to buy "digital ready" 
television sets.  The Kenyan government has announced the year 2012 
as the deadline for migration from analogue broadcasting to 
digital, three years ahead of the global deadline of June 2015.  To 
facilitate the migration, the government has formed and designated 
a company, Signet, as the signal distributor.  Signet is a 
subsidiary of the national broadcaster, Kenya Broadcasting 
Corporation (KBC).  A committee -- the Digital Television Committee 
(DTC) -- has been formed to spearhead the migration to digital. 
Having a single signal distributor means that media houses will no 
longer need to maintain their transmitters countrywide to reach 
consumers.  Instead, they will feed programs to the channels they 
are licensed to own.  Under this arrangement, the Communications 
Commission of Kenya (CCK) will still be responsible for licensing, 
while broadcasters will be required to sign a separate contract 
with Signet for transmission. 
 
 
 
------------ 
 
Role to Play 
 
------------ 
 
 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, during his 
October visit to Kenya, chided media leaders for "sleeping on the 
job."  David Waweru, Managing Director of the Kenya Broadcasting 
Corporation (KBC), who was present at the meeting, told us that 
Annan believed that the Kenyan media is not playing the vital role 
 
it should in the reform process.  Annan alleged that, instead of 
providing the public with necessary information, the media 
politicized each step and even intentionally published 
misinformation.  Wawaru disagreed, telling us that the media 
managed to keep pressure on the political elite by endlessly 
highlighting the still largely unfulfilled reform agenda. 
 
 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Shelia Amdany, Executive Secretary of the Media Owners' 
Association, was less positive.  According to her, Kenyan 
journalism is characterized by "political acrimony and tribalism." 
As a result, "there is so much negative energy in the media."  It 
is a well-documented fact that many media outlets openly sided with 
political and tribal factions during the 2007 post election 
turmoil.  Chris Odwesso, Editor-in-Chief of the Kenya Times, summed 
up, saying, "The media abhor tribalism in theory but embrace it in 
practice."  Some media outlets actively reach out to the Kenyan 
Diaspora to mobilize the tribal groups behind their preferred 
political factions.  A Kalenjin station, KASS FM, conducts 
interactive programs regularly between Kenya-based and U.S.-based 
Kalenjins. 
 
 
 
¶10.  (SBU) According to Suzanne Gachukia, a young owner of Sub 
Sahara Communications Company, Kenya is experiencing a crisis of 
confidence after the shocking events of 2007 post-election 
violence.  As an institution still considered credible by most 
Kenyans, the media has a serious role to play in "catalyzing" the 
reform process.  David Waweru agreed, saying that instead of 
searching for sensational headlines, the media should be educating 
the general populace about concrete reform steps.  He cited the 
example of the reappointment of Aaron Ringera as the head of the 
Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission.  From the reappointment to his 
resignation, all major media relentlessly focused on the 
personalities involved, instead of the Commission's importance and 
role in Kenya's future.  Irungu Ndirangu, Editor-in-Chief of the 
People's Daily, cited the dispute about possible International 
Criminal Court (ICC) intervention in the cases of the perpetrators 
of the 2007 post-election violence.  The media rarely covered the 
information about what the ICC option entailed and its implications 
for Kenya, he said.  As a result, to this day, few Kenyans 
understand the significance of possible ICC intervention. 
 
 
 
¶11.  (SBU) During a November 17 National Youth Forum, leaders of 
youth movements criticized the media for not covering the 
grassroots activism that was quietly changing the country's 
political landscape.  They said that the media is often co-opted by 
politicians who are threatened by reform-oriented youth groups, and 
refuse to cover activist events.  Esther Kamweru, Deputy Director 
of the Media Council, observed that "when the media and government 
come together, people suffer."  Rose Kimotho agreed, saying, "The 
non-holy alliance between the media and politicians must go."  "The 
suspicious nature of the Kenyan people and a divided civil society 
make an impartial media all the more important," affirmed Irungu 
Ndirangu.  He noted that the unveiling of a draft constitution on 
November 17 offered the media yet another chance to play a pivotal 
role in defining the issues at stake during the debate that will 
precede that adoption of a new constitution. 
 
 
 
¶12.  (SBU) There is a new refreshing movement to create a different 
type of media which will be more in touch with ordinary Kenyans and 
the country's need for change.  In mid-December, the Center for 
Rights, Education and Awareness (CREAW), a women's rights 
organization, and Africa Community Development Media (ADCM), an 
organization focused on the media's role for social transformation, 
launched a new Internet-based radio station.  According to ADCM's 
representative Anne Njogu, when a year-long negotiation with the 
Communication Commission of Kenya for a frequency failed, ADCM 
decided to turn to the Internet.  The station's sole focus for the 
next several months, under the title of "Katiba ni yako" (the 
Constitution is yours), will be Kenya's draft constitution as part 
of an effort to ensure that ordinary Kenyans are informed about 
what is at stake.  After the planned referendum in April, the 
station will focus consecutively on each urgent topic of the reform 
 
agenda, including reconciliation, land reform and judicial reform. 
ADCM is fully aware of the shortcomings of an Internet-based radio, 
like limited access, and plans to supplement its operation with 
mobile phone messages and eventually go digital.  Anne Njogu is 
confident that ordinary Kenyans' yearning for a media that is truly 
focused on their concerns will succeed. 
 
 
 
------- 
 
Comment 
 
------- 
 
 
 
¶13.  (SBU) The media environment in Kenya is highly competitive, 
and print and electronic journalism continue to play a key role in 
the national discussion of the critical issues that confront the 
country.  Unfortunately, the highly partisan and tribal nature of 
much of the media too often lead to a focus on personalities, 
scandal, and rumor, instead of a more dispassionate discussion of 
the serious issues that Kenya must successfully resolve if it is to 
remain the keystone country of East Africa.  The proliferation of 
media is a double-edged sword:  it offers Kenyans more sources of 
information about the issues of the day, but also potentially 
further divides the Kenyan audience along tribal, geographical, and 
political lines.  The Mission has a range of programs aimed at 
increasing professionalization of the media. 
RANNEBERGER