SECTOR 2 2.3 Efforts are undertaken to increase the scope of circulation of the print media, particularly to rural communities. Local or regional newspapers now have better reach, especially to rural communities since they are their primary readership. There are other initiatives which have assisted in the decentralisation of news and have helped bring national papers closer to everyone. A unique project that has gained ground is the “Media Content Centres”, initiative which assists journalists in the different regions of the country collect information and file stories from their locality as cost effectively and easily as possible. The MCCs were established through a partnership between the Africa Woman and Child Features Service (AWCFS) and the Kenyan Correspondents Association because they felt that mainstream media ignored human interest stories and focused mostly on covering political issues. So it was decided that there was a need to create more avenues to market stories that were not being used by the mainstream media. The correspondents are provided with a personal computer and modem that enables them to access the internet. They load units on their own and are responsible for setting up or acquiring office space, paying rent and related utilities. It works well where journalists form a partnership as it becomes more affordable. The MCCs cut down on the cost and time of going to the cybercafes and they now have offices which they can at any time turn into a “Media Centre” from where they can hold press conferences. Correspondents based in far flung parts of the country as well as city centres outside Nairobi generate stories from a community perspective with a particular emphasis on women and marginalized communities. The stories are generated from 11 MCCs (more are being set up) by field based correspondents and freelancers. These are then emailed to a team of editors at the Media Diversity Centre in Nairobi who process them before they are uploaded every two weeks. These are then published on an online platform called Reject, because these are stories side-lined by the mainstream media. A print version of Reject is printed and inserted into The Star - one of the major dailies in Kenya - every two weeks. The contributors are paid per story published and per picture, and this adds to their earnings. The correspondents are continuously trained through the African Child and Woman Feature Service (ACWFS) and Media Content Centre initiative and their skills upgraded which has ensured that the standard is kept high. AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER KENYA 2012 31