Kenya is really worth publishing certain stories. The effect is that the level and quality of investigative journalism has declined. When the new government came into power there was hope that it would be media-friendly because many ministers had their roots in the NGO sector. “We thought we now have a government of our own.” This turned out to be a false hope. “All of a sudden they do not share our ideals any more.” People are being arrested when they demonstrate against certain clauses in a draft constitution that is under debate. Placards demanding freedom of expression are used as exhibits in court. The situation is worsened, it was alleged, by the fact that there are too many common interests between media owners and the government. Now that certain media houses are able to do business with the state that was not possible before, they put their business interests above their responsibilities to the public. As a result they do not create the open space citizens would like to have in the media. To the contrary, their foremost focus was said to be to pursue the “agenda of a very restricted group and therefore give no access for other groups”. This means that civil society is left with less opportunities for expression, and those who can afford it have to buy space in the newspapers or air time. Media houses have a tradition of seeking to be “politically correct” with existing regimes and changing political re-alignments. Despite this sad state of affairs citizens themselves are still taking the initiative – they go into the streets and express their dissatisfaction whenever such action is needed. Under the new government demonstrators are still “clobbered”, “but at least we can go back home”. While the mainstream media concentrated in the Standard Group, Nation Group and Royal Media Group “serve the ruling class”, ordinary citizens express their views uncensored in phonein programmes on private FM stations that give people a voice and provide space for debate. African Media Barometer - Kenya 2005 5