Crossing borders
By David Karanja Posted Jan 1 2005
EPA/Stephen Morrison
A man hold a copy of The Daily Nation, Kenya's leading newspaper. Its parent company, the Nation Media Group is expanding its operations to Uganda and Tanzania, countries dominated by government-run media.
As Kenya’s Nation Media Group (NMG) expands its operations to Uganda and Tanzania, the economic muscle of the growing company may provide a stronger voice for media freedom in East Africa. Although it is driven by profit motive, the company’s solid financial base is laying the groundwork for the birth of new independent media outlets to challenge the governmental media monopolies.
In September, President Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania made a rare public declaration of support for press freedom. While presiding over the launch of The Citizen, the country’s fourth independent daily newspaper, Mkapa said, “I want to assure The Citizen, and the media as a whole, that we in government will continue to uphold the freedom of the media.”
The Citizen is the latest offering by NMG, publisher of Kenya’s leading newspaper, The Daily Nation, and the biggest media organization in East and Central Africa. The company has an annual turnover of US$ 54 million and plans to be the leading media player in the three East African countries of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
“We have established a track record of excellence in Kenya’s media over the last 40 years. Now we want to play a significant role in the media of both Uganda and Tanzania,” says Wilfred Kiboro, NMG’s chief executive officer.
“Undercapitalization has made many new independent publications die,” says Peter Kikwete, chairman of Tanzania Media Associates, a non-governmental organization. “New media needs time to become economically viable. NMG has the capacity to support a publication for a long time before it starts making profit.”
NMG has entered the Tanzanian market in a joint venture with a Tanzanian media company, Mwananchi Communications Limited (MCL), in which it has bought a 60 percent shareholding. MCL owns a radio station, Radio Uhuru, and two Kiswahili newspapers, Mwananchi and Mwanaspoti.
Prior to the birth of The Citizen, there were four dailies in Tanzania: three independents and the government-sponsored Daily News. The papers had a combined circulation of 200,000 including The Daily News’ 50,000. Its market dominance is likely to face stiff challenge from NMG’s US$ 2 million-investment in The Citizen.
NMG’s challenge to government control of the media is most evident in Uganda, a country with a history of political instability that has stifled the growth of independent media and given it a reputation as the government in the region that is most unfriendly to media. After independence in 1962, successive authoritarian regimes effectively killed independent media by the early 1980s. When current President Yoweri Museveni took power in 1986, his government established a daily newspaper, The New Vision.
In 1992, a group of journalists formed an independent weekly, The Monitor, which later became a daily. In 2001, NMG bought majority shares in the newspaper and its radio station, 93.3 Monitor FM. The New Vision, however, remains the leading newspaper with a daily sale of 35,000 copies. The government also owns Bukedde, a Luganda language daily and two vernacular language weeklies.
Museveni’s government routinely harasses The Monitor because of its reporting on the 18-year-old armed rebellion by the Lords Resistance Army (LRA). The paper was once shut down briefly after the government accused it of reporting lies about the war. A 2002 law threatens the death penalty for journalists who support “terrorism.”
“With NMG on board, Museveni cannot ban The Monitor,” says Dominic Wagura, the executive Director of Uganda Journalists for a Free Media (UJFM). “The political cost of antagonizing a major regional investor is too high for a president who has been supporting the quest for regional integration. This will be good for media growth and press freedom in Uganda.”
NMG also plans to publish magazines in the three countries. The venture will be in partnership with the leading media company in South Africa, Media 24, which has 60 newspapers and 37 magazines. The two companies have formed another company, East African Magazines Limited, in which NMG has the majority shareholding. The magazines will be written and edited in Nairobi and printed in South Africa. The first two titles, Drum and True Love, have already been launched.
“NMG is committed to the pursuit of freedom of expression because we believe that a free press is critical to national development,” says Kiboro. “Our publishing venture in Uganda and Tanzania is anchored on this principle.”
NMG was started in 1960 by His Highness the Aga Khan, Imam of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims, who now holds 43.3 percent of shares. The Daily Nation, the company’s flagship title, took 10 years to make a profit but eventually overtook The East African Standard as the leading newspaper in Kenya. It now sells 165,000 copies and its online edition receives 650,000 hits daily.
The growth of NMG is synonymous with the struggle for media freedom in Kenya. The Daily Nation has been criticized by political leaders since it was launched and has been threatened with a ban on many occasions. In 1993 NMG was denied a license to operate radio and television stations. The company challenged the refusal in court. After local and international pressure, the license was granted but only to broadcast within a 60-kilometer radius of the capital, Nairobi, where only 10 percent of the country’s population resides. A nationwide broadcast license was finally issued when a new government came to power in 2002.
NMG’s foray in the region has been well received by journalists who see better job prospects in an environment of enhanced media competition.
“The move will also help journalists in the region forge closer ties to bargain for better working conditions,” says Fred Wangai, the Kenya chapter secretary of the East African Journalists Association (EAJA). The union was formed last year to promote journalistic excellence in the region.
Although government censorship remains the biggest threat to media freedom in Africa, economic constraints make it difficult for independent media to survive as well. By investing in the three East African countries, NMG is promoting a free press for the region.