President William Ruto’s administration has served cold revenge on media houses which were hostile to his presidential bid by cutting them off state advertisements for the next two years.
In a circular sent to all government agencies, the Ministry of ICT has ordered all state bodies to publish their advertisements in ‘The Star’ newspaper.
Just two weeks ago The Star was given a new lease of life after the state bypassed all mainstream papers and awarded it a mega printing and distribution deal for its weekly publication, ‘My Gov.’
The deal is estimated to cost at least Sh30 million monthly, but it could go higher if you factor in distribution costs through national courier Posta.
Radio Africa has for the last two weeks been giving out its Tuesday edition of The Star for free in order to enable as many Kenyans as possible to read My Gov.
MyGov is a publication where all government agencies place advertisements by paying the Government Advertising Agency (GAA). For the last five years until the start of January mainstream newspapers had been carrying the publication as an insert.
However, as if losing My Gov was not enough, the ICT Ministry has removed all state advertisements from the other main stream newspapers.
ICT Principal Secretary Edward Kisiangani has ordered all government agencies from advertising in The Daily Nation, The Standard and Business Daily.
Instead he has asked them to advertise in The Star which is now owned by a completely new company, Convergence Media. Previously the newspaper was owned by Radio Africa Group.
“Any requests for exceptions to publish advertisements outside of MyGov will be directed to The Star newspaper upon authorisation by this office,” ordered Kisiangani.
While the PS has claimed that The Star won the advertising tender fairly, observers say they are being rewarded for not being hostile towards Ruto’s presidential bid last year.
Additionally one of The Star’s key shareholders is former Nairobi governor Evans Kidero and the Kittony family who are President Ruto’s key allies.
The Daily Nation on the other hand is owned by His Highness The Agakhan while the Standard and People Daily are owned by the Moi and Kenyatta families.
All the three publications were highly critical of Ruto’s presidential bid, a claim that the president repeatedly made during the campaigs.
On the contrary Ruto’s opponent Raila Odinga enjoyed the support of key business and media players. These included the owner of the giant Royal Media Services, who openly campaigned for Odinga’s Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya coalition.
Unable to get such endorsement in 2022 from any mainstream media, Ruto’s coalition used a different strategy. It invested heavily in alternative communication platforms, most notably social media. It framed mainstream media as pro-establishment and as purveyors of fake news.
Kenya’s mainstream media remain financially exposed due to their increasingly fragile business model. The reliance on advertising revenue and benevolence from wealthy owners subjects most local media to significant structural and operational constraints and weaknesses.
Governments and big business – often closely linked to the state – remain some of the biggest advertisers in the media market.
For this reason they are a powerful influence in determining the news agenda directly, through proxies, or through advertising. Withdrawing state and regional government advertising from mainstream media will therefore hit it hard.
