SECTOR 2

Most of these radio stations cover Kenya’s major towns. Radio listenership, which
is dominant and cheaper, has been enhanced by radio receivers in public transport
and increased use of mobile phones that receive radio signals. It is the most
dominant mass media in the rural areas.
There are 16 television stations but very few of them have countrywide reach, and
the urban dominance remains.
The entry of internet on the media scene has increased the range of information
sources and accessibility. About five-six million Kenyans have access to the internet.
The introduction of cheaper modems by mobile service providers has increased
accessibility. The cost is Kshs 1,000 ( US $ 12.5) per 300 to 400 MB. Internet
at cyber café is on average Kshs. 60 (US $ 0.75 per hour. It should however be
noted that although these appear to be low costs, the slow speed owing to limited
bandwidth end up raising the costs.
Print
Given the developments in the other media sub-sectors mentioned above, the
circulation in the print media have stagnated and in some cases, gone down. A
contributory factor is affordability, given the high production costs and heavy
taxation of newsprint. Circulation and sales respond to the economy and the
current situation is unfavourable.
The Daily Nation, the Standard and their Saturday and Sunday sister publications
are the largest circulating newspapers in Kenya. The others are The Kenya Times,
the Sunday Times, Saturday Times and the People Daily and the People on Sunday.
There is also the Business Daily, a publication of the Nation Media Group and The
Star (formerly the Nairobi Star), which are the recent publications on the Kenyan
market8.
Nation Media Group also owns The East African, a regional weekly newspaper
and Taifa (a Kiswahili daily newspaper that was established in 1959).
For the leading dailies, circulation figures in 2008 stood at:
Daily Nation – 180,000
The Standard – 110,000

8 Study by AfriMap on Public Broadcasting in Kenya (yet to be published).

AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER KENYA 2009

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