Message from PAMC Co-Convener
Dear Participants,
I am pleased to invite you to attend the 2010 Pan African Media Conference in Nairobi, Kenya. The conference with the theme, Media and the African Promise is a collaboration of the Africa Media Initiative and the Nation Media Group and will reflect on the African media’s past, present and prospects for the future against the challenges of a dynamic globalized environment. The conference has been organized to commemorate Nation Media Group’s 50th Anniversary since the first copy of the Daily Nation rolled off the press.
This conference will draw attendance from leading media professionals from all over the African continent, speakers representing industry and policy development, as well as academic scholars and thinkers from the global media arena. The forum will encourage contribution and development of robust policy related to the operation and development of media in Africa.
Participants will explore issues ranging from the advent of citizen journalism where audiences generate and publish news using popular online platforms and new media such as SMS, MMS, MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube, to the role of media and civil society in solving Africa’s challenges, to governance democracy and other perspectives, to the emergence of a global media culture, to reporting change and crisis in Africa, and saving the African environment among others.
We have a great line-up of speakers including:
•H.H The Aga Khan
•Prof. Wangari Maathai
•Mr. Jean Ping
•Prof. Guy Berger
•Dr. Mo Ibrahim
•Prof. Ngugi Wa Thiongo
•Mr. Pierre Barrot
•Prof. Kwame Kaari Kari
•H.E Thabo Mbeki
•Mr. David Dadge
I am looking forward to meeting you in Nairobi in March 2010 at what promises to be a most stimulating and enjoyable media event on the African continent.
Warm Warm Regards,
Linus Gitahi,
Group Chief Executive Officer, Nation Media Group.
http://www.panafricamedia2010kenya.com/welcome1.html
PAN-AFRICA MEDIA CONFERENCE 2010 & NATION MEDIA GROUP
http://www.businessdayonline.com/index. ... a-business
Nigeria missing on 2010 Pan African Media confab list
Tuesday, 16 February 2010 01:10 Daniel Obi with Agency report
…Despite vibrant media
Is Nigeria’s reputation, even among African countries, still sliding? Or what exactly would make organisers of the 2010 Pan African Media Conference sideline the Nigerian government and private sector media officials among the great line up of speakers that include African presidents, ex-presidents and notable international media experts, at the convention scheduled for Kenya next month?
Nigeria, undoubtedly, has one of the most vibrant media in the world that any conference organiser, especially on the African continent, could tap into; but a scan of the great line-up of speakers clearly indicated the absence of Nigerian government officials and media experts.
Already, Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, Joaquim Alberto Chissano, former president of Mozambique, and John Agyekum Kufuor, former president of Ghana, have confirmed their presence at the inaugural conference which would be used to mark the 50th anniversary of Kenyan Media Group.
Other speakers include Mohamed “Mo” Ibrahim, Sudanese-born British mobile communications entrepreneur, Hussein Amin, former chair of Journalism and Mass Communication at the American University in Cairo, Achim Steiner, acting on the nomination of Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
The UN General Assembly unanimously elected Steiner as the Executive Director of UNEP on March 16, 2006 for a four-year term, effective June 15, 2006.
Also to attend are Ali Mufuruki, current Lead chief executive officer of the Tanzania CEOs’ Roundtable, Wangari Maathai, winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, Kwame Karikari, executive director of Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), and David Dadge, director of the International Press Institute(IPI).
The convention will also bring together renowned media, academicians and business executives from the United States of America, South Africa, Ghana and France.
The conference, themed ‘Media and the African Promise,’ is a collaboration of the Africa Media Initiative and the Nation Media Group (NMG) and will reflect on the African media’s past, present and prospects for the future against the challenges of a dynamic globalised environment, according to Linus Gitahi, the chief executive officer of NMG. Gitahi added: “The forum will encourage contribution and development of robust policy related to the operation and development of media in Africa.”
Aga Khan, the main proprietor of NMG under the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, is to be the guest of honour and is expected to launch a book branded; Birth of a Nation: The story of a newspaper in Kenya. Media awards to honour outstanding contributors to Africa’s media are also planned for the conference slated for March 18-19, 2010.
Nigeria missing on 2010 Pan African Media confab list
Tuesday, 16 February 2010 01:10 Daniel Obi with Agency report
…Despite vibrant media
Is Nigeria’s reputation, even among African countries, still sliding? Or what exactly would make organisers of the 2010 Pan African Media Conference sideline the Nigerian government and private sector media officials among the great line up of speakers that include African presidents, ex-presidents and notable international media experts, at the convention scheduled for Kenya next month?
Nigeria, undoubtedly, has one of the most vibrant media in the world that any conference organiser, especially on the African continent, could tap into; but a scan of the great line-up of speakers clearly indicated the absence of Nigerian government officials and media experts.
Already, Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, Joaquim Alberto Chissano, former president of Mozambique, and John Agyekum Kufuor, former president of Ghana, have confirmed their presence at the inaugural conference which would be used to mark the 50th anniversary of Kenyan Media Group.
Other speakers include Mohamed “Mo” Ibrahim, Sudanese-born British mobile communications entrepreneur, Hussein Amin, former chair of Journalism and Mass Communication at the American University in Cairo, Achim Steiner, acting on the nomination of Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
The UN General Assembly unanimously elected Steiner as the Executive Director of UNEP on March 16, 2006 for a four-year term, effective June 15, 2006.
Also to attend are Ali Mufuruki, current Lead chief executive officer of the Tanzania CEOs’ Roundtable, Wangari Maathai, winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, Kwame Karikari, executive director of Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), and David Dadge, director of the International Press Institute(IPI).
The convention will also bring together renowned media, academicians and business executives from the United States of America, South Africa, Ghana and France.
The conference, themed ‘Media and the African Promise,’ is a collaboration of the Africa Media Initiative and the Nation Media Group (NMG) and will reflect on the African media’s past, present and prospects for the future against the challenges of a dynamic globalised environment, according to Linus Gitahi, the chief executive officer of NMG. Gitahi added: “The forum will encourage contribution and development of robust policy related to the operation and development of media in Africa.”
Aga Khan, the main proprietor of NMG under the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, is to be the guest of honour and is expected to launch a book branded; Birth of a Nation: The story of a newspaper in Kenya. Media awards to honour outstanding contributors to Africa’s media are also planned for the conference slated for March 18-19, 2010.
Celebrating 50 years of news
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Celebratin ... index.html
Nation Media Group, the largest news organisation in East and Central Africa, has laid out an elaborate plan to celebrate its 50th birthday, including an international media conference this week. Photo/STEPHEN MUDIARI
By DAVE OPIYO
Posted Saturday, March 13 2010 at 21:00
In Summary
•World scholars and media professionals all set for NMG’s Golden Jubilee
The Nation Media Group will begin a series of activities on Monday to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of what has become the largest media group in East and Central Africa.
The centrepiece of the Golden Jubilee is the Pan African Media Conference on Thursday and Friday at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre.
President Kibaki will officially open the event that is expected to bring together more than 1,000 people, including media professionals and scholars, under the theme Media and the African Promise.
The gathering, held in collaboration with the African Media Initiative, will present participants with the opportunity to reflect on the history of the media in Africa as well as on its present and future prospects.
Participants will explore issues such as the advent of citizen journalism where audiences generate and publish information using popular online platforms and new media such as SMS, MMS, MySpace, Facebook and YouTube.
They will also discuss the role of media and civil society in confronting Africa’s challenges in governance and democracy, the emergence of a global media culture, reporting change and crisis in Africa, and saving the African environment.
One of the pre-conference events will be the presentation of reports on a proposed Africa-wide health reporting network at a reception at the Serena Hotel.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka and Rwandan President Paul Kagame, as well as former presidents Joachim Chissano (Mozambique), Thabo Mbeki (South Africa) and Benjamin Mkapa (Tanzania) are expected to address the conference.
Nation Media Group founder the Aga Khan will speak on the birth and growth of the media house whose history is intertwined with that of the Kenyan nation and on his thoughts on modern journalism and the future of the media in Africa.
Media conference
Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union Jean Ping, Kenyan Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai, Mohamed Ibrahim, British mobile communications entrepreneur and founder of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, Unep executive director Achim Steiner and Dr Hussein Amin, former chair of the journalism school at the American University in Cairo, are among those expected to attend the media conference.
Founded in 1959 with the purchase of Taifa Leo, the newspaper organisation that was to become NMG is the leading multimedia house in the region with print, radio, television and electronic platforms.
In Kenya, Nation Newspapers Division publishes daily and weekend editions of Nation, the Kiswahili daily Taifa Leo, The East African, a regional weekly, and Business Daily. Nation Broadcasting Division runs NTV, Easy FM, QFM and NTV Uganda.
In Uganda, Monitor Publications Ltd, a subsidiary of NMG started in 1992, publishes the Daily Monitor and Sunday Monitor and runs FM radio station KFM 93.3.
Mwananchi Communications Ltd (MCL) in Tanzania publishes the Kiswahili newspapers Mwananchi and Mwana Spoti.
In September 2004, MCL launched an English daily The Citizen.
NMG’s Chief Executive Officer Linus Gitahi said the conference is meant to be the “most stimulating and enjoyable event on the African continent”.
He said it would offer an opportunity to reflect on the media’s future in an increasingly globalised environment.
The forum, he said in a statement published on the conference website www.panafricamedia2010kenya.com, would encourage lively discussions and “forward-thinking” contributions, which would lead to the development of robust African media policies.
It will encourage contribution to and development of robust policy related to the operation and development of media in Africa, said Mr Gitahi, who is also the conference’s co-convenor.
Media role
“The role of the media is critical to good governance and the solidarity of Africa. Let us engage to make Africa one of the best continents worldwide,” he added.
Diamond Trust Bank is the lead sponsor of the conference. Other sponsors are Kenya Airways, Kenya Data Network, Uchumi Quick Supplies and X and R Technologies.
NMG editorial director Joseph Odindo said that to mark the celebrations, the company had produced several publications to give readers an insight into the evolution of the group.
“We have prepared a 17-page pullout on the company to be inserted in Thursday’s paper, another glossy souvenir coffee table book and another book, Birth of a Nation, that tells the history of the Nation in Kenya,” he said.
“These publications capture great moments in the country and feature big stories that have been published in our outlets and the people who have made the work a success,” he said.
Most PopularCIA documents reveal how the Cold War shaped politics in Kenya Four more Raila ministers targeted Secret Service fears for Obama Beautiful to look at? Not for this girl Jitters in Kanu over Mungiki Kenyan woman in London court over Sh690m fraudBattle for new king of Coast Winnie draws anger over Mandela commentsPM orders swift action on drivers' killingsDonors beginning to show Kenya respect NTV Kenya n-sokoAbout usEditorial TeamContact usMobileDigital EditionsPrivacy PolicyHelpTerms RSS
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Celebratin ... index.html
Nation Media Group, the largest news organisation in East and Central Africa, has laid out an elaborate plan to celebrate its 50th birthday, including an international media conference this week. Photo/STEPHEN MUDIARI
By DAVE OPIYO
Posted Saturday, March 13 2010 at 21:00
In Summary
•World scholars and media professionals all set for NMG’s Golden Jubilee
The Nation Media Group will begin a series of activities on Monday to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of what has become the largest media group in East and Central Africa.
The centrepiece of the Golden Jubilee is the Pan African Media Conference on Thursday and Friday at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre.
President Kibaki will officially open the event that is expected to bring together more than 1,000 people, including media professionals and scholars, under the theme Media and the African Promise.
The gathering, held in collaboration with the African Media Initiative, will present participants with the opportunity to reflect on the history of the media in Africa as well as on its present and future prospects.
Participants will explore issues such as the advent of citizen journalism where audiences generate and publish information using popular online platforms and new media such as SMS, MMS, MySpace, Facebook and YouTube.
They will also discuss the role of media and civil society in confronting Africa’s challenges in governance and democracy, the emergence of a global media culture, reporting change and crisis in Africa, and saving the African environment.
One of the pre-conference events will be the presentation of reports on a proposed Africa-wide health reporting network at a reception at the Serena Hotel.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka and Rwandan President Paul Kagame, as well as former presidents Joachim Chissano (Mozambique), Thabo Mbeki (South Africa) and Benjamin Mkapa (Tanzania) are expected to address the conference.
Nation Media Group founder the Aga Khan will speak on the birth and growth of the media house whose history is intertwined with that of the Kenyan nation and on his thoughts on modern journalism and the future of the media in Africa.
Media conference
Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union Jean Ping, Kenyan Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai, Mohamed Ibrahim, British mobile communications entrepreneur and founder of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, Unep executive director Achim Steiner and Dr Hussein Amin, former chair of the journalism school at the American University in Cairo, are among those expected to attend the media conference.
Founded in 1959 with the purchase of Taifa Leo, the newspaper organisation that was to become NMG is the leading multimedia house in the region with print, radio, television and electronic platforms.
In Kenya, Nation Newspapers Division publishes daily and weekend editions of Nation, the Kiswahili daily Taifa Leo, The East African, a regional weekly, and Business Daily. Nation Broadcasting Division runs NTV, Easy FM, QFM and NTV Uganda.
In Uganda, Monitor Publications Ltd, a subsidiary of NMG started in 1992, publishes the Daily Monitor and Sunday Monitor and runs FM radio station KFM 93.3.
Mwananchi Communications Ltd (MCL) in Tanzania publishes the Kiswahili newspapers Mwananchi and Mwana Spoti.
In September 2004, MCL launched an English daily The Citizen.
NMG’s Chief Executive Officer Linus Gitahi said the conference is meant to be the “most stimulating and enjoyable event on the African continent”.
He said it would offer an opportunity to reflect on the media’s future in an increasingly globalised environment.
The forum, he said in a statement published on the conference website www.panafricamedia2010kenya.com, would encourage lively discussions and “forward-thinking” contributions, which would lead to the development of robust African media policies.
It will encourage contribution to and development of robust policy related to the operation and development of media in Africa, said Mr Gitahi, who is also the conference’s co-convenor.
Media role
“The role of the media is critical to good governance and the solidarity of Africa. Let us engage to make Africa one of the best continents worldwide,” he added.
Diamond Trust Bank is the lead sponsor of the conference. Other sponsors are Kenya Airways, Kenya Data Network, Uchumi Quick Supplies and X and R Technologies.
NMG editorial director Joseph Odindo said that to mark the celebrations, the company had produced several publications to give readers an insight into the evolution of the group.
“We have prepared a 17-page pullout on the company to be inserted in Thursday’s paper, another glossy souvenir coffee table book and another book, Birth of a Nation, that tells the history of the Nation in Kenya,” he said.
“These publications capture great moments in the country and feature big stories that have been published in our outlets and the people who have made the work a success,” he said.
Most PopularCIA documents reveal how the Cold War shaped politics in Kenya Four more Raila ministers targeted Secret Service fears for Obama Beautiful to look at? Not for this girl Jitters in Kanu over Mungiki Kenyan woman in London court over Sh690m fraudBattle for new king of Coast Winnie draws anger over Mandela commentsPM orders swift action on drivers' killingsDonors beginning to show Kenya respect NTV Kenya n-sokoAbout usEditorial TeamContact usMobileDigital EditionsPrivacy PolicyHelpTerms RSS
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Nation%20M ... /mikx5w/-/
Nation Media Group celebrates 50 years
March 15, 2010
University students perusing their Daily Nation newspapers. Photo/FILE
By NATION Reporter
Posted Sunday, March 14 2010 at 22:30
When the Aga Khan decided to start a newspaper in Kenya 50 years ago, his vision was to print an independent and honest publication that would help nurture an emerging democracy.
It was 1960 and the wind of change was blowing across Africa, with many of its countries just breaking free from the shackles of colonialism.
Media house
Over the past 50 years, the history of the Kenyan nation is inextricably intertwined with that of the Nation Media Group, whose story starts with the acquisition of Kiswahili publication Taifa Leo in 1959.
The Sunday Nation was launched in March, 1960 and the Daily Nation followed in October the same year.
Thus, the Havard-educated Aga Khan started what would, in half a century, become the largest media house in East and Central Africa.
This week, NMG celebrates that success with the launch of a book, Birth of a Nation, authored by Gerry Loughran, an accomplished journalist who was an editor at Nation for 12 years and whose career took him to far-flung cities like Beirut and New York.
The 319 page-turner will be launched on Thursday as part of celebrations to mark the group’s diamond jubilee.
NMG will this week host a series of activities whose centrepiece is the Pan African Media Conference on Thursday and Friday at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre.
President Kibaki will officially open the conference, expected to bring together more than 1,000 people, including media professionals and scholars, under the theme Media and the African Promise.
Nation Media Group celebrates 50 years
March 15, 2010
University students perusing their Daily Nation newspapers. Photo/FILE
By NATION Reporter
Posted Sunday, March 14 2010 at 22:30
When the Aga Khan decided to start a newspaper in Kenya 50 years ago, his vision was to print an independent and honest publication that would help nurture an emerging democracy.
It was 1960 and the wind of change was blowing across Africa, with many of its countries just breaking free from the shackles of colonialism.
Media house
Over the past 50 years, the history of the Kenyan nation is inextricably intertwined with that of the Nation Media Group, whose story starts with the acquisition of Kiswahili publication Taifa Leo in 1959.
The Sunday Nation was launched in March, 1960 and the Daily Nation followed in October the same year.
Thus, the Havard-educated Aga Khan started what would, in half a century, become the largest media house in East and Central Africa.
This week, NMG celebrates that success with the launch of a book, Birth of a Nation, authored by Gerry Loughran, an accomplished journalist who was an editor at Nation for 12 years and whose career took him to far-flung cities like Beirut and New York.
The 319 page-turner will be launched on Thursday as part of celebrations to mark the group’s diamond jubilee.
NMG will this week host a series of activities whose centrepiece is the Pan African Media Conference on Thursday and Friday at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre.
President Kibaki will officially open the conference, expected to bring together more than 1,000 people, including media professionals and scholars, under the theme Media and the African Promise.
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Nation%20f ... /ei3qvz/-/
DAILY NATION
News
‘Nation’ founders would be shocked by its growth
The Nation Centre on Nairobi’s Kimathi Street. Photo/WILLIAM OERI
The Nation Centre on Nairobi’s Kimathi Street. Photo/WILLIAM OERI
By Nation Reporter
Posted Monday, March 15 2010 at 21:00
In Summary
* From humble origins, NMG has spread to East Africa
A historical account of Nation Media Group’s first 50 years will be released this week at a landmark Pan-Africa Media Conference in Nairobi.
The meeting was organised to mark the anniversary.
Titled Birth of a Nation —The Story of a Newspaper in Kenya, the book was written by Gerard Loughran, who was among a small band of pioneers who launched the Sunday Nation and Daily Nation in 1960.
Mr Loughran, a Briton, remained closely associated with the newspapers in subsequent years and still contributes a weekly column to the Sunday Nation, Letter From London.
“Kenya has changed unimaginably over the past half-century,” he said, “so that digging into the past, interviewing old-stagers and recording their memories was like exploring a foreign country.
“I was lucky to talk to people like Michael Curtis, the first managing director but really the man who created the Nation, the bedrock of it all, and Charles Hayes, a former colonial officer who started the Kiswahili weekly, Taifa, then sold it to the Aga Khan.”
Building block
Turned into a daily, Taifa Leo became the first building block in a news edifice that was to grow over the years into the largest publishing empire in East and Central Africa.
“Seeing the Nation in Tanzania and Uganda as well as Kenya, newspapers and magazines galore, radio and television companies... all this would astound the class of 1960,” Mr Loughran said. “We were mostly young expatriates from Britain in our 20s working with very few trained Africans and trying to keep three tiny papers afloat.
“But we came with no predetermined attitudes, except that it was proper for a country to exist as an independent entity and that is what we pushed for from the beginning — early independence.”
Mr Loughran believes it was this clearly stated policy that earned the Nation the support of a growing African readership and which proved crucial to the group’s future editorial and commercial success.
“I always had in mind that I was telling two stories, or the story of two nations (country and newspaper). They were inextricably mixed. Whatever happened on the national scene was reflected in the newspaper and sometimes the paper changed and motivated developments in politics and life,” the writer said.
Birth of a Nation will be launched on Friday at the Carnivore.
DAILY NATION
News
‘Nation’ founders would be shocked by its growth
The Nation Centre on Nairobi’s Kimathi Street. Photo/WILLIAM OERI
The Nation Centre on Nairobi’s Kimathi Street. Photo/WILLIAM OERI
By Nation Reporter
Posted Monday, March 15 2010 at 21:00
In Summary
* From humble origins, NMG has spread to East Africa
A historical account of Nation Media Group’s first 50 years will be released this week at a landmark Pan-Africa Media Conference in Nairobi.
The meeting was organised to mark the anniversary.
Titled Birth of a Nation —The Story of a Newspaper in Kenya, the book was written by Gerard Loughran, who was among a small band of pioneers who launched the Sunday Nation and Daily Nation in 1960.
Mr Loughran, a Briton, remained closely associated with the newspapers in subsequent years and still contributes a weekly column to the Sunday Nation, Letter From London.
“Kenya has changed unimaginably over the past half-century,” he said, “so that digging into the past, interviewing old-stagers and recording their memories was like exploring a foreign country.
“I was lucky to talk to people like Michael Curtis, the first managing director but really the man who created the Nation, the bedrock of it all, and Charles Hayes, a former colonial officer who started the Kiswahili weekly, Taifa, then sold it to the Aga Khan.”
Building block
Turned into a daily, Taifa Leo became the first building block in a news edifice that was to grow over the years into the largest publishing empire in East and Central Africa.
“Seeing the Nation in Tanzania and Uganda as well as Kenya, newspapers and magazines galore, radio and television companies... all this would astound the class of 1960,” Mr Loughran said. “We were mostly young expatriates from Britain in our 20s working with very few trained Africans and trying to keep three tiny papers afloat.
“But we came with no predetermined attitudes, except that it was proper for a country to exist as an independent entity and that is what we pushed for from the beginning — early independence.”
Mr Loughran believes it was this clearly stated policy that earned the Nation the support of a growing African readership and which proved crucial to the group’s future editorial and commercial success.
“I always had in mind that I was telling two stories, or the story of two nations (country and newspaper). They were inextricably mixed. Whatever happened on the national scene was reflected in the newspaper and sometimes the paper changed and motivated developments in politics and life,” the writer said.
Birth of a Nation will be launched on Friday at the Carnivore.
By NATION Reporter and PPS
Posted Wednesday, March 17 2010 at 14:07
The Government is steadfast in supporting and facilitating development programmes aimed at benefiting and empowering Kenyans economically, President Mwai Kibaki has re-affirmed.
President Kibaki gave the assurance when he met and held discussions with The Aga Khan who paid a courtesy call at his Harambee House Office.
The President said the Government recognises and appreciates the substantial economic impact created by diverse programmes implemented in various parts of the country under the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN).
Appreciating the noble causes that the AKDN is spearheading, President Kibaki noted that development programmes in agriculture and tourism in the country contributed directly and indirectly towards improving the living conditions of the Kenyan people.
The Head of State noted that agriculture being the backbone of Kenya’s economy, the Government welcomed support extended to farmers by the AKDN through provision of credit and planting of drought resistant crops as well as imparting of vital skills such as water harvesting.
With regard to tourism, AKDN manages world class hotels in several parts of the country which have created employment for Kenyan professionals in the hospitality industry.
The Aga Khan also founded the Nation Media Group that is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this week. The highlight of the anniversary is the Pan African Media Conference that opens at Nairobi's Kenyatta International Conference Centre on Thursday.
In attendance were the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Moses Wetang'ula and Head of Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Muthaura among other senior government officials.
On his part, The Aga Khan was accompanied by Dr Shafik Sachedina, the Director of Diplomatic Affairs (H.H. Aga Khan Secretariat), Mr Zul Abdul, President, Aga Khan Council for Kenya and Mr Aziz Bhakao, representative AKDN Kenya.
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Aga%20Khan ... /wgm6xw/-/
By EMMANUEL ONYANGO
Posted Thursday, March 18 2010 at 13:32
The Pan African Conference got underway on Thursday in Nairobi, attracting an attendance of media experts and political leaders in discussing the role of media in an African democracy.
Chief guest President Kibaki set the pace with an acknowledgement on “the advent of citizen journalism has become possible because of tools such as SMS, blogs and social networking websites such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Myspace.”
The President challenged the conference to examine how new media can be used to deepen democracy on the African continent, in fighting the vices of corruption and nepotism, and in addressing the environmental challenges Africa must deal with due to the effects of climate change.
Nation Media Group founder The Aga Khan announced plans to establish anew Graduate School of Media and Communications that will be based in East Africa.
The school, the first of its kind in the region, will have its first campus in Nairobi by next year and later be integrated in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of Aga Khan University to be created in Arusha.
"I am pleased to tell you that The Aga Khan University is planning to establish a new Graduate School of Media and Communications, based in East Africa and dedicated to advancing the excellence of media performance and the strengthening of ethical media practices throughout the developing world," the Aga Khan said in his speech.
The proposed Graduate School of Media will offer a Masters Degree program, serving recent university graduates as well as media owners, managers, and mid-career journalists.
It will also offer continuing education classes and establish a special program in media management.
In addition, the new School will create a Forum on the Media Future, a place for conducting and disseminating research.
"This new School will also work on the cutting edge of media technology, embracing especially the new on-line world - its complications and its potentials. Here, as in other areas, Africa has the capacity to leap-frog into an advanced position in applying these new technologies. The rapid spread here of mobile phone technology supports this view - as do recent advances in broadband availability - including the new SEACOM undersea cable development," the Aga Khan said.
He at the same time reckoned that the quest for media freedom in Africa should not give license to the introduction of liberal media practices.
"Let me sound a word of caution. Freedom, in any area of human activity, does not mean the moral license to abuse that freedom. It would bea sad thing if the people of Africa in the name of freedom, were expected to welcome the worst of media practices, whether they are home-grown or imported."
"I am convinced that the best way for media, in Africa and elsewhere, to maintain their independence is to prove their indispensability," said the Aga Khan.
The conference is one of the key activities marking the 50th Anniversary of the Nation Media Group.
Among those in the packed plenary hall at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre during the morning session were President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, ex-Presidents Joachim Chissano of Mozambique and Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and Information and Communications minister Samuel Poghisio.
By EMMANUEL ONYANGO
Posted Thursday, March 18 2010 at 13:32
The Pan African Conference got underway on Thursday in Nairobi, attracting an attendance of media experts and political leaders in discussing the role of media in an African democracy.
Chief guest President Kibaki set the pace with an acknowledgement on “the advent of citizen journalism has become possible because of tools such as SMS, blogs and social networking websites such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Myspace.”
The President challenged the conference to examine how new media can be used to deepen democracy on the African continent, in fighting the vices of corruption and nepotism, and in addressing the environmental challenges Africa must deal with due to the effects of climate change.
Nation Media Group founder The Aga Khan announced plans to establish anew Graduate School of Media and Communications that will be based in East Africa.
The school, the first of its kind in the region, will have its first campus in Nairobi by next year and later be integrated in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of Aga Khan University to be created in Arusha.
"I am pleased to tell you that The Aga Khan University is planning to establish a new Graduate School of Media and Communications, based in East Africa and dedicated to advancing the excellence of media performance and the strengthening of ethical media practices throughout the developing world," the Aga Khan said in his speech.
The proposed Graduate School of Media will offer a Masters Degree program, serving recent university graduates as well as media owners, managers, and mid-career journalists.
It will also offer continuing education classes and establish a special program in media management.
In addition, the new School will create a Forum on the Media Future, a place for conducting and disseminating research.
"This new School will also work on the cutting edge of media technology, embracing especially the new on-line world - its complications and its potentials. Here, as in other areas, Africa has the capacity to leap-frog into an advanced position in applying these new technologies. The rapid spread here of mobile phone technology supports this view - as do recent advances in broadband availability - including the new SEACOM undersea cable development," the Aga Khan said.
He at the same time reckoned that the quest for media freedom in Africa should not give license to the introduction of liberal media practices.
"Let me sound a word of caution. Freedom, in any area of human activity, does not mean the moral license to abuse that freedom. It would bea sad thing if the people of Africa in the name of freedom, were expected to welcome the worst of media practices, whether they are home-grown or imported."
"I am convinced that the best way for media, in Africa and elsewhere, to maintain their independence is to prove their indispensability," said the Aga Khan.
The conference is one of the key activities marking the 50th Anniversary of the Nation Media Group.
Among those in the packed plenary hall at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre during the morning session were President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, ex-Presidents Joachim Chissano of Mozambique and Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and Information and Communications minister Samuel Poghisio.
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBZHKQNItJ4
https://www.panafricamedia2010kenya.com ... SPEECH.mov
http://www.akdn.org/Content/978
Aga Khan Announces New Graduate School of Media and Communications at Pan-Africa Media Conference in Nairobi
Please also see: Speech by His Highness the Aga Khan, Speech by His Excellency Hon. Mwai Kibaki, President of the Republic of Kenya and Photographs
Nairobi, Kenya: 18 March 2010 – His Highness the Aga Khan today announced the establishment of the Aga Khan University Graduate (AKU) School of Media and Communications. The School, whose initial campus will be situated in Nairobi, will aim to foster a critical mass of diverse, media leaders, enterprises and institutions distinguished by the highest standards of competence, ethics, professionalism and social responsibility. It is anticipated that the School will be formally launched in 2011, although some of its activities may begin later this year.
His Highness the Aga Khan delivering the Founder’s Address at the Pan Africa Media conference, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Nation Media Group.
View photographs
The Aga Khan made the announcement as part of his address to the inaugural Pan-Africa Media Conference, which marks the 50th Anniversary of the Nation Media Group. The two-day conference is being held at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, and was officially opened by His Excellency President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya.
Named for its flagship newspaper the Daily Nation, the Nation Media Group was established by the Aga Khan in 1960. Together with its Kiswahili counterpart Taifa Leo, the Nation provided an independent voice in the years leading up to Kenya’s independence. The Nation Group has since expanded from print into radio, television and digital media, and has spread its influence beyond Kenya’s borders. Today, it continues to be a leading voice in Kenya, as well as the broader East African region.
For more details on the conference, please visit: www.panafricamedia2010kenya.com
For more details on the Nation group, please visit: www.akdn.org/akfed_media.asp
Special supplement published by Nation Media Group to commemorate its 50th Anniversary.
http://www.theismaili.org/cms/963/
Marking the 50th anniversary of the Daily Nation, Mawlana Hazar Imam announces a new journalism school to be situated in East Africa
Also see related coverage, photographs and speech at the AKDN website, and more information at the Pan-African Media Conference website.
Mawlana Hazar Imam delivering the Founder’s Address at the Pan-Africa Media conference, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Nation Media Group. Photo: AKDN/Gary Otte
Nairobi, 18 March 2010 — Mawlana Hazar Imam announced the establishment of a new Graduate School of Media and Communications today, which will be part of the Aga Khan University (AKU) in East Africa.
The University is undergoing a major expansion in the region, and the School will be an integral component of East Africa’s first regional university. AKU is establishing a new purpose-built principal campus in Arusha, Tanzania, with additional campuses in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.
The School — whose initial campus will be situated in Nairobi — will aim to foster a critical mass of diverse, media leaders, enterprises and institutions distinguished by the highest standards of competence, ethics, professionalism and social responsibility. It is anticipated that the School will be formally launched in 2011, although some of its activities may begin later this year.
Hazar Imam made the announcement as part of his address at the inaugural Pan-Africa Media Conference, which marks the 50th Anniversary of the Nation Media Group. The two-day conference is being held in Nairobi, and was officially opened by His Excellency President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya. Attendees include Their Excellencies President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Joaquim Chissano, former President of Mozambique and the inaugural winner of the Mo Ibrahim Prize for African Leadership in 2007, Benjamin Mkapa, former President of Tanzania, Professor Wangari Maathai, Kenyan Environmentalist and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, as well as a number of renowned media organisations and interested groups from across Africa.
Prince Hussain and Princess Khaliya listen to a session on how Africa has been shaped by its image in the media, together with Ismaili Council for Kenya Vice-President Anwar Hajee. Photo: Aziz Islamshah
Named for its flagship newspaper the Daily Nation, the Nation Media Group was established by Mawlana Hazar Imam in 1960. Together with its Kiswahili counterpart Taifa Leo, the Nation provided a civic voice in the years leading up to Kenya’s independence. The Nation Group has since expanded from print into radio, television and digital media, and has spread its influence beyond Kenya’s borders. Today, it continues to be a leading voice in Kenya, as well as throughout the East African region.
Mawlana Hazar Imam arrived in Nairobi two days ago, and is accompanied by Prince Hussain and Princess Khaliya.
*****
http://www.akdn.org/Content/980
Video;
http://www.akdn.org/videos_detail.asp?VideoId=90
Speech by His Highness the Aga Khan at the Conference Marking the 50th Anniversary of the Nation Media Group: "Media and the African Promise."
18 March 2010
His Excellency Mwai Kibaki, President of the Republic of Kenya
His Excellency Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda
His Excellency Kalonzo Musyoka, Vice President of Kenya
Rt. Hon. Raila Amolo Odinga, Prime Minister of Kenya
His Excellency Joaquim Chissano, former President of Mozambique
His Excellency Benjamin Mkapa, former President of the United Republic of Tanzania
Hon. Samuel Poghisio, Minister for Information and Communication, Republic of Kenya
Honourable Ministers
Your Excellencies
Ladies and gentlemen
I am genuinely pleased to join you at this conference - an event which looks back at a distinguished past, and ahead to a daunting future.
The presence at this conference of President Kibaki and many other government leaders, past and present, has immense importance for me personally and for the Nation Media Group. For there is no doubt that relations between governments and the media are central to the future of Africa, challenging and even exasperating as that experience at times may be.
In many respects, this has been a new challenge for Africa. Prior to independence there were no national media owners, no national newspapers, television or radio stations, no indigenous corps of trained journalists. Newly independent governments had to work with media which had no African antecedents, even as both political leaders and journalists wrestled with massive debates about capitalism, communism and non-alignment.
It was against this backdrop that I decided to create the first East African media group. I was 24, and had no background – whatsoever – in the media field. In Swahili, I was Kutia Mkono Gizani. Or as we say in English, “the blind leading the blind.”
I am tempted to reminisce at some length about those early days - our big dreams and the steps we took to achieve them. And I would be remiss if I did not take this moment to salute those who have devoted so much time and talent to the progress of the Nation Media Group - in those opening days and ever since.
What did we hope and predict for the Group 50 years ago? We certainly aspired for its transformation from a loss making infant enterprise to a profitable blue chip corporation, and then its transformation from a private venture into a public company - owned principally today by many thousands of local shareholders. We also worked to stay ahead on the technology front, determined not to burden Africa with outmoded production techniques.
What we may not have foreseen, is how the company would diversify and expand - into the whole of East Africa - into television and radio, and now onto the Internet - enabling us to connect our work intimately with the wider world.
But even as we look back with pride, we must also take this occasion to look forward.
As we do, our goal, I submit, should be a future in which Africa will be served by some of the greatest, most respected, media enterprises of the world - an Africa in which both Governments and the media respect and abide by their appropriate roles in your still young democracies.
What should those roles be? This question, too, has been with us from the very start. For we were also aware back then of a critical historical pattern: the fact that, in many places, much of the time, the transmission of news had been the work of advocates - organizations with agendas - political parties, special interest groups and governments.
News media that sought independence, generally speaking, had a difficult life. One of them was the now defunct British newspaper, the News Chronicle, edited by the late Michael Curtis, who later played such a central role in the Nation story. With him, we believed that the tradition of non-aligned newspapers was the most appropriate for Africa. We still believe that today.
It has not always been easy to explain this role - to share our understanding that independence from parties, or interest groups or governments should not and does not mean some sort of reflexive opposition to them. Not having a special agenda does not imply some counter-agenda. Being independent is not the same thing as being oppositional.
Truly independent media cannot be predictably partisan, narrowly politicized, nor superficially personalized. Journalistic shortcomings cannot be disguised behind political or partisan agendas. So the idea of “best practice” became a second NMG goal: to try to identify, educate, and harness the best media talent we could find.
Recent studies from the Freedom House organization report that media freedom is increasingly threatened globally. For every nation that moves forward in terms of press freedom, two nations are said to be slipping backward. Media freedom requires continuing vigilance.
But here let me sound a word of caution. Freedom, in any area of human activity, does not mean the moral license to abuse that freedom. It would be a sad thing if the people of Africa in the name of freedom, were expected to welcome the worst of media practices, whether they are home-grown or imported.
I am convinced that the best way for media, in Africa and elsewhere, to maintain their independence is to prove their indispensability.
This is not an easy task. Information flows more quickly, over longer distances at lower cost than ever before. But sometimes more information – in and of itself - can also mean more misinformation, more confusion, more manipulation, more superficial snapshots of events, lacking nuance, lacking context, or hiding agendas.
We talk a great deal - in Africa in particular - about protecting and improving our natural environment. Similarly, we should be increasingly vigilant about protecting and improving our media environment.
So let us take a closer look at what this could mean in practice for African media.
First, it should be, in my view, more African, taking the lead in addressing Africa - specific concerns intelligently and wisely.
As African media work to sustain African identity and culture, one of the issues we face is language. In Kenya, for example, Swahili readership has been shrinking compared to English readership, while in Tanzania, the opposite is true. How should public policy makers and the communication industry support traditional languages?
On another front, I think we must focus more on questions of media ownership. For as long as I can remember, the quality of African journalists has been topic number one. But I wonder if the principal issue is not rather about the aims and intentions of the owners of communications enterprises. What are their agendas - personal, religious, political, economic?
Crisis management is another issue where the industry must be better prepared. During times of crisis, how do African media leaders respond? We know the challenges - NMG experienced them during the Kenyan crisis two years ago - as did so many others -tribalism, gangsterism, disinformation, corruption and religious intolerance are horrible forces which the media in Africa must sometimes face.
Of course we also have seen - here and elsewhere - courageous, and even heroic, media efforts to respond to these crises and to point the way out. But can African media do more?
When there are strong and legitimate opportunities to give credit for positive African initiatives, is African media paying attention? So many countries where I work, for example, have dysfunctional constitutions - but in many African countries this problem is being wisely addressed. Do we recognize such efforts? In many African places, as well, intelligent regionalism is replacing narrow-minded nationalism, but I wonder if the media gives sufficient credit.
When independence came to most sub-Saharan African countries, nearly all professions were under-developed: law, medicine, education, nursing, public administration …. and journalism. In some professions remuneration was inadequate to attract the most talented. Today that is improving. In my view the time has come when a sometimes dysfunctional relationship born out of government inexperience or media shallowness can be replaced by a new level of constructive intellectual empathy. I am convinced that an improved relationship is now possible. No! It is essential – if African development is to progress at the pace African peoples need and want.
Spirited debate, intelligent inquiry, informed criticism, principled disagreement - these qualities must continue to characterize a healthy media sector. At the same time, advancing the cause of media responsibility, grounded in professional competence, is nothing less than a moral imperative.
But all of these aspirations must be rooted in better education.
I take up this topic today in my role as Chancellor of the Aga Khan University - an institution which is now 25 years old and based in eight countries, including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the United Kingdom, Syria and Egypt. This University, which originally focused on health sciences and education, is now pursuing a widening array of subjects.
I am pleased to tell you that The Aga Khan University is planning to establish a new Graduate School of Media and Communications, based in East Africa and dedicated to advancing the excellence of media performance and the strengthening of ethical media practices throughout the developing world.
The School will be driven, above all, by an absolute commitment to quality.
It will have several components. It will offer a Masters Degree program, serving recent university graduates as well as media owners, managers, and mid-career journalists. It will also offer continuing education classes - short courses designed to enhance media skills and to nurture media values. It will establish a special program in media management - one of the first in the developing world - devoted to enhancing more robust media institutions. Journalistic independence, after all, depends on financial independence.
In addition, the new School will create a Forum on the Media Future, a place for conducting and disseminating cutting edge research that will help shape public communication in the decades ahead.
In all of these efforts, the School will be driven by an active public service agenda providing a resource for the media community throughout Africa - and in places beyond.
The School’s emphasis on the developing world will be reflected in its faculty and student body, as well its curriculum and research pursuits. We foresee, for example, a strong emphasis on using the case study method in our courses, as many law and business schools now do, drawing lessons from concrete historical examples. We intend to develop case studies which grow out of African media experiences, while also reflecting global best practices. These case studies will address recurrent media issues I have mentioned -such as crisis management, trivialization, incompetent analysis, and corruption.
This new School will also work on the cutting edge of media technology, embracing especially the new on-line world - its complications and its potentials. Here, as in other areas, Africa has the capacity to leap-frog into an advanced position in applying these new technologies. The rapid spread here of mobile phone technology supports this view - as do recent advances in broadband availability - including the new SEACOM undersea cable development.
A new campus hosting this program will be developed in Nairobi over the coming year. It will work closely, of course, not only with the Nation Media Group - but also with other local, continental and international media organizations.
Over the longer term, the Graduate School of Media and Communication will ally itself with another new project of the Aga Khan University - a Faculty of Arts and Sciences, to be created over the coming years in Arusha. In a world of growing complexity, journalists must increasingly understand the substantive, sophisticated dimensions of the fields on which they report - from medical and environmental sciences, to economic and financial disciplines, to legal and constitutional matters. And a new generation of African media entrepreneurs could well be born from programs which blend economic and media disciplines.
We hope and trust the new School will contribute to achieving the objectives I have discussed with you today, and I hope these reflections and opportunities of the African media future will be taken into account. May it be a future in which Africa will be served by some of the greatest most respected, media enterprises of the world.
Thank you
Bookmark & Share
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBZHKQNItJ4
https://www.panafricamedia2010kenya.com ... SPEECH.mov
http://www.akdn.org/Content/978
Aga Khan Announces New Graduate School of Media and Communications at Pan-Africa Media Conference in Nairobi
Please also see: Speech by His Highness the Aga Khan, Speech by His Excellency Hon. Mwai Kibaki, President of the Republic of Kenya and Photographs
Nairobi, Kenya: 18 March 2010 – His Highness the Aga Khan today announced the establishment of the Aga Khan University Graduate (AKU) School of Media and Communications. The School, whose initial campus will be situated in Nairobi, will aim to foster a critical mass of diverse, media leaders, enterprises and institutions distinguished by the highest standards of competence, ethics, professionalism and social responsibility. It is anticipated that the School will be formally launched in 2011, although some of its activities may begin later this year.
His Highness the Aga Khan delivering the Founder’s Address at the Pan Africa Media conference, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Nation Media Group.
View photographs
The Aga Khan made the announcement as part of his address to the inaugural Pan-Africa Media Conference, which marks the 50th Anniversary of the Nation Media Group. The two-day conference is being held at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, and was officially opened by His Excellency President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya.
Named for its flagship newspaper the Daily Nation, the Nation Media Group was established by the Aga Khan in 1960. Together with its Kiswahili counterpart Taifa Leo, the Nation provided an independent voice in the years leading up to Kenya’s independence. The Nation Group has since expanded from print into radio, television and digital media, and has spread its influence beyond Kenya’s borders. Today, it continues to be a leading voice in Kenya, as well as the broader East African region.
For more details on the conference, please visit: www.panafricamedia2010kenya.com
For more details on the Nation group, please visit: www.akdn.org/akfed_media.asp
Special supplement published by Nation Media Group to commemorate its 50th Anniversary.
http://www.theismaili.org/cms/963/
Marking the 50th anniversary of the Daily Nation, Mawlana Hazar Imam announces a new journalism school to be situated in East Africa
Also see related coverage, photographs and speech at the AKDN website, and more information at the Pan-African Media Conference website.
Mawlana Hazar Imam delivering the Founder’s Address at the Pan-Africa Media conference, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Nation Media Group. Photo: AKDN/Gary Otte
Nairobi, 18 March 2010 — Mawlana Hazar Imam announced the establishment of a new Graduate School of Media and Communications today, which will be part of the Aga Khan University (AKU) in East Africa.
The University is undergoing a major expansion in the region, and the School will be an integral component of East Africa’s first regional university. AKU is establishing a new purpose-built principal campus in Arusha, Tanzania, with additional campuses in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.
The School — whose initial campus will be situated in Nairobi — will aim to foster a critical mass of diverse, media leaders, enterprises and institutions distinguished by the highest standards of competence, ethics, professionalism and social responsibility. It is anticipated that the School will be formally launched in 2011, although some of its activities may begin later this year.
Hazar Imam made the announcement as part of his address at the inaugural Pan-Africa Media Conference, which marks the 50th Anniversary of the Nation Media Group. The two-day conference is being held in Nairobi, and was officially opened by His Excellency President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya. Attendees include Their Excellencies President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Joaquim Chissano, former President of Mozambique and the inaugural winner of the Mo Ibrahim Prize for African Leadership in 2007, Benjamin Mkapa, former President of Tanzania, Professor Wangari Maathai, Kenyan Environmentalist and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, as well as a number of renowned media organisations and interested groups from across Africa.
Prince Hussain and Princess Khaliya listen to a session on how Africa has been shaped by its image in the media, together with Ismaili Council for Kenya Vice-President Anwar Hajee. Photo: Aziz Islamshah
Named for its flagship newspaper the Daily Nation, the Nation Media Group was established by Mawlana Hazar Imam in 1960. Together with its Kiswahili counterpart Taifa Leo, the Nation provided a civic voice in the years leading up to Kenya’s independence. The Nation Group has since expanded from print into radio, television and digital media, and has spread its influence beyond Kenya’s borders. Today, it continues to be a leading voice in Kenya, as well as throughout the East African region.
Mawlana Hazar Imam arrived in Nairobi two days ago, and is accompanied by Prince Hussain and Princess Khaliya.
*****
http://www.akdn.org/Content/980
Video;
http://www.akdn.org/videos_detail.asp?VideoId=90
Speech by His Highness the Aga Khan at the Conference Marking the 50th Anniversary of the Nation Media Group: "Media and the African Promise."
18 March 2010
His Excellency Mwai Kibaki, President of the Republic of Kenya
His Excellency Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda
His Excellency Kalonzo Musyoka, Vice President of Kenya
Rt. Hon. Raila Amolo Odinga, Prime Minister of Kenya
His Excellency Joaquim Chissano, former President of Mozambique
His Excellency Benjamin Mkapa, former President of the United Republic of Tanzania
Hon. Samuel Poghisio, Minister for Information and Communication, Republic of Kenya
Honourable Ministers
Your Excellencies
Ladies and gentlemen
I am genuinely pleased to join you at this conference - an event which looks back at a distinguished past, and ahead to a daunting future.
The presence at this conference of President Kibaki and many other government leaders, past and present, has immense importance for me personally and for the Nation Media Group. For there is no doubt that relations between governments and the media are central to the future of Africa, challenging and even exasperating as that experience at times may be.
In many respects, this has been a new challenge for Africa. Prior to independence there were no national media owners, no national newspapers, television or radio stations, no indigenous corps of trained journalists. Newly independent governments had to work with media which had no African antecedents, even as both political leaders and journalists wrestled with massive debates about capitalism, communism and non-alignment.
It was against this backdrop that I decided to create the first East African media group. I was 24, and had no background – whatsoever – in the media field. In Swahili, I was Kutia Mkono Gizani. Or as we say in English, “the blind leading the blind.”
I am tempted to reminisce at some length about those early days - our big dreams and the steps we took to achieve them. And I would be remiss if I did not take this moment to salute those who have devoted so much time and talent to the progress of the Nation Media Group - in those opening days and ever since.
What did we hope and predict for the Group 50 years ago? We certainly aspired for its transformation from a loss making infant enterprise to a profitable blue chip corporation, and then its transformation from a private venture into a public company - owned principally today by many thousands of local shareholders. We also worked to stay ahead on the technology front, determined not to burden Africa with outmoded production techniques.
What we may not have foreseen, is how the company would diversify and expand - into the whole of East Africa - into television and radio, and now onto the Internet - enabling us to connect our work intimately with the wider world.
But even as we look back with pride, we must also take this occasion to look forward.
As we do, our goal, I submit, should be a future in which Africa will be served by some of the greatest, most respected, media enterprises of the world - an Africa in which both Governments and the media respect and abide by their appropriate roles in your still young democracies.
What should those roles be? This question, too, has been with us from the very start. For we were also aware back then of a critical historical pattern: the fact that, in many places, much of the time, the transmission of news had been the work of advocates - organizations with agendas - political parties, special interest groups and governments.
News media that sought independence, generally speaking, had a difficult life. One of them was the now defunct British newspaper, the News Chronicle, edited by the late Michael Curtis, who later played such a central role in the Nation story. With him, we believed that the tradition of non-aligned newspapers was the most appropriate for Africa. We still believe that today.
It has not always been easy to explain this role - to share our understanding that independence from parties, or interest groups or governments should not and does not mean some sort of reflexive opposition to them. Not having a special agenda does not imply some counter-agenda. Being independent is not the same thing as being oppositional.
Truly independent media cannot be predictably partisan, narrowly politicized, nor superficially personalized. Journalistic shortcomings cannot be disguised behind political or partisan agendas. So the idea of “best practice” became a second NMG goal: to try to identify, educate, and harness the best media talent we could find.
Recent studies from the Freedom House organization report that media freedom is increasingly threatened globally. For every nation that moves forward in terms of press freedom, two nations are said to be slipping backward. Media freedom requires continuing vigilance.
But here let me sound a word of caution. Freedom, in any area of human activity, does not mean the moral license to abuse that freedom. It would be a sad thing if the people of Africa in the name of freedom, were expected to welcome the worst of media practices, whether they are home-grown or imported.
I am convinced that the best way for media, in Africa and elsewhere, to maintain their independence is to prove their indispensability.
This is not an easy task. Information flows more quickly, over longer distances at lower cost than ever before. But sometimes more information – in and of itself - can also mean more misinformation, more confusion, more manipulation, more superficial snapshots of events, lacking nuance, lacking context, or hiding agendas.
We talk a great deal - in Africa in particular - about protecting and improving our natural environment. Similarly, we should be increasingly vigilant about protecting and improving our media environment.
So let us take a closer look at what this could mean in practice for African media.
First, it should be, in my view, more African, taking the lead in addressing Africa - specific concerns intelligently and wisely.
As African media work to sustain African identity and culture, one of the issues we face is language. In Kenya, for example, Swahili readership has been shrinking compared to English readership, while in Tanzania, the opposite is true. How should public policy makers and the communication industry support traditional languages?
On another front, I think we must focus more on questions of media ownership. For as long as I can remember, the quality of African journalists has been topic number one. But I wonder if the principal issue is not rather about the aims and intentions of the owners of communications enterprises. What are their agendas - personal, religious, political, economic?
Crisis management is another issue where the industry must be better prepared. During times of crisis, how do African media leaders respond? We know the challenges - NMG experienced them during the Kenyan crisis two years ago - as did so many others -tribalism, gangsterism, disinformation, corruption and religious intolerance are horrible forces which the media in Africa must sometimes face.
Of course we also have seen - here and elsewhere - courageous, and even heroic, media efforts to respond to these crises and to point the way out. But can African media do more?
When there are strong and legitimate opportunities to give credit for positive African initiatives, is African media paying attention? So many countries where I work, for example, have dysfunctional constitutions - but in many African countries this problem is being wisely addressed. Do we recognize such efforts? In many African places, as well, intelligent regionalism is replacing narrow-minded nationalism, but I wonder if the media gives sufficient credit.
When independence came to most sub-Saharan African countries, nearly all professions were under-developed: law, medicine, education, nursing, public administration …. and journalism. In some professions remuneration was inadequate to attract the most talented. Today that is improving. In my view the time has come when a sometimes dysfunctional relationship born out of government inexperience or media shallowness can be replaced by a new level of constructive intellectual empathy. I am convinced that an improved relationship is now possible. No! It is essential – if African development is to progress at the pace African peoples need and want.
Spirited debate, intelligent inquiry, informed criticism, principled disagreement - these qualities must continue to characterize a healthy media sector. At the same time, advancing the cause of media responsibility, grounded in professional competence, is nothing less than a moral imperative.
But all of these aspirations must be rooted in better education.
I take up this topic today in my role as Chancellor of the Aga Khan University - an institution which is now 25 years old and based in eight countries, including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the United Kingdom, Syria and Egypt. This University, which originally focused on health sciences and education, is now pursuing a widening array of subjects.
I am pleased to tell you that The Aga Khan University is planning to establish a new Graduate School of Media and Communications, based in East Africa and dedicated to advancing the excellence of media performance and the strengthening of ethical media practices throughout the developing world.
The School will be driven, above all, by an absolute commitment to quality.
It will have several components. It will offer a Masters Degree program, serving recent university graduates as well as media owners, managers, and mid-career journalists. It will also offer continuing education classes - short courses designed to enhance media skills and to nurture media values. It will establish a special program in media management - one of the first in the developing world - devoted to enhancing more robust media institutions. Journalistic independence, after all, depends on financial independence.
In addition, the new School will create a Forum on the Media Future, a place for conducting and disseminating cutting edge research that will help shape public communication in the decades ahead.
In all of these efforts, the School will be driven by an active public service agenda providing a resource for the media community throughout Africa - and in places beyond.
The School’s emphasis on the developing world will be reflected in its faculty and student body, as well its curriculum and research pursuits. We foresee, for example, a strong emphasis on using the case study method in our courses, as many law and business schools now do, drawing lessons from concrete historical examples. We intend to develop case studies which grow out of African media experiences, while also reflecting global best practices. These case studies will address recurrent media issues I have mentioned -such as crisis management, trivialization, incompetent analysis, and corruption.
This new School will also work on the cutting edge of media technology, embracing especially the new on-line world - its complications and its potentials. Here, as in other areas, Africa has the capacity to leap-frog into an advanced position in applying these new technologies. The rapid spread here of mobile phone technology supports this view - as do recent advances in broadband availability - including the new SEACOM undersea cable development.
A new campus hosting this program will be developed in Nairobi over the coming year. It will work closely, of course, not only with the Nation Media Group - but also with other local, continental and international media organizations.
Over the longer term, the Graduate School of Media and Communication will ally itself with another new project of the Aga Khan University - a Faculty of Arts and Sciences, to be created over the coming years in Arusha. In a world of growing complexity, journalists must increasingly understand the substantive, sophisticated dimensions of the fields on which they report - from medical and environmental sciences, to economic and financial disciplines, to legal and constitutional matters. And a new generation of African media entrepreneurs could well be born from programs which blend economic and media disciplines.
We hope and trust the new School will contribute to achieving the objectives I have discussed with you today, and I hope these reflections and opportunities of the African media future will be taken into account. May it be a future in which Africa will be served by some of the greatest most respected, media enterprises of the world.
Thank you
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http://www.nation.co.ke/News/NMG%20hono ... n22dsdz/-/
By JOHN NGIRACHU
Posted Friday, March 19 2010 at 21:46
The Nation Media Group on Friday rewarded employees who have served the company for the longest time since its inception 50 years ago.
It rewarded those who have worked at NMG in Kenya for more than 20 years and those who have served in the Ugandan and Tanzanian branches for more than 10 years.
The cash awards were handed over at a colourful breakfast attended by NMG founder, His Highness the Aga Khan and members of the board.
The ceremony was part of ongoing celebrations to mark the company’s golden jubilee and each long-serving employee received Sh1,000 for every year they have helped transform NMG into the leading media house in East and Central Africa.
NMG’s oldest employee is the man who draws the Juha Kalulu cartoon strip in NMG’s first newspaper, the Kiswahili language Taifa Leo.
Edward Gitau, who has worked at NMG for 50 years, got a standing ovation when he rose to collect his cheque and a plaque that will doubtless take pride of place in his sitting room.
Kanani Noorbegum, the photo librarian, was also rewarded for her 39 years as was John Thairu Karuitha, a customer service executive with 37 years under his belt.
Golf correspondent Larry Ngala has been writing in the Daily Nation for 36 years while Joseph Nyaga Aduol, a customer service executive, has been at NMG for 34 years.
Anthony Kimani, an assistant systems administrator, has worked for 31 years while NTV correspondent Karim Rajan has ensured stories from the Coast get to the newsroom for the past 30 years.
IT man John Orwa (30 years) and messenger Felix Machuah (28 years) were also honoured. In a short speech to employees, the Aga Khan asked them to “keep true to the purpose of the institution, (which is) to serve the people of Africa.”
The Aga Khan founded NMG in 1960 at the age of 24, and it has grown into one of Kenya’s biggest and most respected organisations.
The Aga Khan said the company’s responsibilities were not only to its shareholders but, more importantly, to the people of Africa, most of whom he said wanted NMG to expand into their regions. “Every step has got to be as good as we know how to make it good,” he added.
Also recognised were directors who have served on the board for more than 15 years. These included Mr Gerry Wilkinson, Mr Francis Okello and current chairman Mr Wilfred Kiboro, who announced that NMG employees will each get 200 shares in recognition of their exemplary work.
The share offer will benefit all NMG staff across East Africa.
By JOHN NGIRACHU
Posted Friday, March 19 2010 at 21:46
The Nation Media Group on Friday rewarded employees who have served the company for the longest time since its inception 50 years ago.
It rewarded those who have worked at NMG in Kenya for more than 20 years and those who have served in the Ugandan and Tanzanian branches for more than 10 years.
The cash awards were handed over at a colourful breakfast attended by NMG founder, His Highness the Aga Khan and members of the board.
The ceremony was part of ongoing celebrations to mark the company’s golden jubilee and each long-serving employee received Sh1,000 for every year they have helped transform NMG into the leading media house in East and Central Africa.
NMG’s oldest employee is the man who draws the Juha Kalulu cartoon strip in NMG’s first newspaper, the Kiswahili language Taifa Leo.
Edward Gitau, who has worked at NMG for 50 years, got a standing ovation when he rose to collect his cheque and a plaque that will doubtless take pride of place in his sitting room.
Kanani Noorbegum, the photo librarian, was also rewarded for her 39 years as was John Thairu Karuitha, a customer service executive with 37 years under his belt.
Golf correspondent Larry Ngala has been writing in the Daily Nation for 36 years while Joseph Nyaga Aduol, a customer service executive, has been at NMG for 34 years.
Anthony Kimani, an assistant systems administrator, has worked for 31 years while NTV correspondent Karim Rajan has ensured stories from the Coast get to the newsroom for the past 30 years.
IT man John Orwa (30 years) and messenger Felix Machuah (28 years) were also honoured. In a short speech to employees, the Aga Khan asked them to “keep true to the purpose of the institution, (which is) to serve the people of Africa.”
The Aga Khan founded NMG in 1960 at the age of 24, and it has grown into one of Kenya’s biggest and most respected organisations.
The Aga Khan said the company’s responsibilities were not only to its shareholders but, more importantly, to the people of Africa, most of whom he said wanted NMG to expand into their regions. “Every step has got to be as good as we know how to make it good,” he added.
Also recognised were directors who have served on the board for more than 15 years. These included Mr Gerry Wilkinson, Mr Francis Okello and current chairman Mr Wilfred Kiboro, who announced that NMG employees will each get 200 shares in recognition of their exemplary work.
The share offer will benefit all NMG staff across East Africa.
http://www.journalism.co.za/index.php?o ... &Itemid=37
Nairobi talks kick off with calls for self-regulation PDF Print E-mail
Friday, 19 March 2010
AFRICAN Media has been challenged to improve and tighten its analytical skills as a way of contributing to development journalism, writes Dennis Itumbi for journalism.co.za.
Panelists in the opening session of the two-day conference dubbed Media and the African Promise further called for an urgent revival of what they described as a dysfunctional relationship between media and top African leadership.
Speakers during a Pan African Media Conference also want journalists to embrace responsible journalism as a means of self-regulation as opposed to freedom without checks.
Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and Nation Media Group founder His Highness the Aga Khan agreed that whereas more room should be opened for discussion between media and African governments, journalists should exercise professionalism so as to safeguard gains, while advocating for more achievements.
"Media Freedom requires consistent vigilance, freedom does not mean abuse of the right of others, Africa should not allow the worst of media practices," the Aga Khan noted. Freedom does not mean a moral licence to abuse this freedom, responsible reportage is the best way to maintain the indispensability of the media.
He addded that the agenda of media owners should always be questioned, be it religious, ethnic or even political, in order to protect and preserve the environment of the media.
In a speech that set the pace for the conference, the Aga Khan reasoned that the dysfunctional relationship between media and governments has been advanced in the past by the slow growth of government and the shallowness of media, now that must be replaced by intellectual and more objective interaction.
Kibaki said: "At the end of the day, professionalism in the industry can only be achieved if the media stakeholders in general made it their issue to regulate the industry. Solutions must be found and the Government stands ready to negotiate.
"
"We appeal for closer engagement and partnership with the media. The media is best positioned to promote awareness, discourse and a lively conversation with the broad range of stakeholders in our region. The media should, therefore, take deliberate interest in our regions integration agenda."
Kibaki evoked amusement when he acknowledged the role of social networking sites, increased access to mobile phones and the internet that resonates well with our young population. "However even those of us born before the computer age, appreciate the contribution of these new avenues of communication. Indeed, the advent of citizen journalism has become possible because of tools such as SMS, blogs, and social networking websites such as Face book, YouTube, Twitter and MySpace."
In attendance were the President of Rwanda Paul Kagame, former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa, Joacquim Chissano former President of Mozambique, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and the Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Nairobi talks kick off with calls for self-regulation PDF Print E-mail
Friday, 19 March 2010
AFRICAN Media has been challenged to improve and tighten its analytical skills as a way of contributing to development journalism, writes Dennis Itumbi for journalism.co.za.
Panelists in the opening session of the two-day conference dubbed Media and the African Promise further called for an urgent revival of what they described as a dysfunctional relationship between media and top African leadership.
Speakers during a Pan African Media Conference also want journalists to embrace responsible journalism as a means of self-regulation as opposed to freedom without checks.
Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and Nation Media Group founder His Highness the Aga Khan agreed that whereas more room should be opened for discussion between media and African governments, journalists should exercise professionalism so as to safeguard gains, while advocating for more achievements.
"Media Freedom requires consistent vigilance, freedom does not mean abuse of the right of others, Africa should not allow the worst of media practices," the Aga Khan noted. Freedom does not mean a moral licence to abuse this freedom, responsible reportage is the best way to maintain the indispensability of the media.
He addded that the agenda of media owners should always be questioned, be it religious, ethnic or even political, in order to protect and preserve the environment of the media.
In a speech that set the pace for the conference, the Aga Khan reasoned that the dysfunctional relationship between media and governments has been advanced in the past by the slow growth of government and the shallowness of media, now that must be replaced by intellectual and more objective interaction.
Kibaki said: "At the end of the day, professionalism in the industry can only be achieved if the media stakeholders in general made it their issue to regulate the industry. Solutions must be found and the Government stands ready to negotiate.
"
"We appeal for closer engagement and partnership with the media. The media is best positioned to promote awareness, discourse and a lively conversation with the broad range of stakeholders in our region. The media should, therefore, take deliberate interest in our regions integration agenda."
Kibaki evoked amusement when he acknowledged the role of social networking sites, increased access to mobile phones and the internet that resonates well with our young population. "However even those of us born before the computer age, appreciate the contribution of these new avenues of communication. Indeed, the advent of citizen journalism has become possible because of tools such as SMS, blogs, and social networking websites such as Face book, YouTube, Twitter and MySpace."
In attendance were the President of Rwanda Paul Kagame, former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa, Joacquim Chissano former President of Mozambique, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and the Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
http://www.coastweek.com/kenxin190310-04.htm
Nairobi Hosts Pan African
Media Conference
The conference is a collaboration of the Africa
media initiative and will reflect on the African
media’s past, present and future prospects
SPECIAL REPORT BY XINHUA CORRESPONDENT DANIEL OOKO
NAIROBI (Xinhua) -- Senior media practitioners across the world are meeting in Nairobi on Thursday for a major continental media conference to discuss problems facing the industry.
The March 18-19 Pan Africa Media Conference, organized by the Nation Media Group brought together 1,000 delegates from Africa and the world.
The conference, with the theme "Media and the African Promise", is a collaboration of the Africa media initiative and will reflect on the African media’s past, present and future prospects.
In his opening remarks, the Nation Media Group founder His Highness the Aga Khan challenged the media to guard against partisan agendas and instead perform their roles effectively in nurturing young democracies in Africa.
In a paper "Media and the Africa promise – lessons learnt in the last 50 years of the Nation Media Group and Modern Journalism in Africa, and the voices that have been locked out and need to be heard", His Highness the Aga Khan said Africa has the capacity to utilize the new technologies for the good of the continent.
He asked the media to exercise the rights of expression without infringing on the rights of others and strive to give credit to Africa’s positive initiatives.
He announced plans to establish a Graduates Media School in Nairobi to offer continued learning and other advanced courses aimed at promoting ethical media practices.
Kenyan Information and Communications Minister Samuel Poghisio urged the media to improve their analytical reporting as they effectively play the role of agenda setters in economic development.
While announcing the landing of the third under-sea fibre optic cable in Mombasa later this month, the minister urged the media to use new technologies to keep pace with the world communication advancements.
Poghisio said the media need to be guided by the principals of balanced reporting and always shun peddling rumours and unverified information that may in the long run infringe on their readers/ viewers rights to truthful information.
Earlier while officially opening the conference, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki reaffirmed the government’s commitment to upholding the freedom of media in order to create an open and information-empowered society.
President Kibaki asserted that the local media has enjoyed greater freedom for the past seven years than in any other time in history of the country.
He noted that the increased freedom has led to unprecedented increase in the number of media outlets in the country.
The president, however, cautioned that media must at all times be responsible and uphold key pillars of journalism, particularly tolerance and objectivity.
He urged players in the media industry to be guided by public good while executing their unique roles of informing, educating and entertaining the society because they hold the communication channels as custodians of the public good.
"In appreciation of the crucial role of the media here in Kenya, the Government has in the last seven years remained committed to the creation of an open society anchored on a free media," he said.
"The media has enjoyed greater freedom than at any other time in the history of our country.
"This has resulted in an unprecedented increase in the number of media outlets.
"For example in 1999 there were 16 radio stations mainly operated by the national broadcaster and 8 television stations.
"Today, we have 80 radio stations on air around the country and 19 television stations."
Kibaki noted that media has a duty to disseminate reliable information that would shape the society positively and help the public to make informed decisions.
"It is to this public that you owe the need to pass on information that will help shape societies of informed and responsible individuals capable of making rational decisions."
The forum will encourage contribution and development of robust policies related to the operation and development of media in Africa.
.
Nairobi Hosts Pan African
Media Conference
The conference is a collaboration of the Africa
media initiative and will reflect on the African
media’s past, present and future prospects
SPECIAL REPORT BY XINHUA CORRESPONDENT DANIEL OOKO
NAIROBI (Xinhua) -- Senior media practitioners across the world are meeting in Nairobi on Thursday for a major continental media conference to discuss problems facing the industry.
The March 18-19 Pan Africa Media Conference, organized by the Nation Media Group brought together 1,000 delegates from Africa and the world.
The conference, with the theme "Media and the African Promise", is a collaboration of the Africa media initiative and will reflect on the African media’s past, present and future prospects.
In his opening remarks, the Nation Media Group founder His Highness the Aga Khan challenged the media to guard against partisan agendas and instead perform their roles effectively in nurturing young democracies in Africa.
In a paper "Media and the Africa promise – lessons learnt in the last 50 years of the Nation Media Group and Modern Journalism in Africa, and the voices that have been locked out and need to be heard", His Highness the Aga Khan said Africa has the capacity to utilize the new technologies for the good of the continent.
He asked the media to exercise the rights of expression without infringing on the rights of others and strive to give credit to Africa’s positive initiatives.
He announced plans to establish a Graduates Media School in Nairobi to offer continued learning and other advanced courses aimed at promoting ethical media practices.
Kenyan Information and Communications Minister Samuel Poghisio urged the media to improve their analytical reporting as they effectively play the role of agenda setters in economic development.
While announcing the landing of the third under-sea fibre optic cable in Mombasa later this month, the minister urged the media to use new technologies to keep pace with the world communication advancements.
Poghisio said the media need to be guided by the principals of balanced reporting and always shun peddling rumours and unverified information that may in the long run infringe on their readers/ viewers rights to truthful information.
Earlier while officially opening the conference, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki reaffirmed the government’s commitment to upholding the freedom of media in order to create an open and information-empowered society.
President Kibaki asserted that the local media has enjoyed greater freedom for the past seven years than in any other time in history of the country.
He noted that the increased freedom has led to unprecedented increase in the number of media outlets in the country.
The president, however, cautioned that media must at all times be responsible and uphold key pillars of journalism, particularly tolerance and objectivity.
He urged players in the media industry to be guided by public good while executing their unique roles of informing, educating and entertaining the society because they hold the communication channels as custodians of the public good.
"In appreciation of the crucial role of the media here in Kenya, the Government has in the last seven years remained committed to the creation of an open society anchored on a free media," he said.
"The media has enjoyed greater freedom than at any other time in the history of our country.
"This has resulted in an unprecedented increase in the number of media outlets.
"For example in 1999 there were 16 radio stations mainly operated by the national broadcaster and 8 television stations.
"Today, we have 80 radio stations on air around the country and 19 television stations."
Kibaki noted that media has a duty to disseminate reliable information that would shape the society positively and help the public to make informed decisions.
"It is to this public that you owe the need to pass on information that will help shape societies of informed and responsible individuals capable of making rational decisions."
The forum will encourage contribution and development of robust policies related to the operation and development of media in Africa.
.
http://thecitizen.co.tz/component/conte ... urope.html
The Citizen, March 19, 2010
Mkapa tells EA to reject trade pact with Europe
Mr Mkapa
By Ray Naluyaga,
Former President Benjamin Mkapa has warned East Africa that the championed Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) by the European Union is another Berlin Conference for the scramble of Africa.
He said the fact that the EU is bracing for equality of trade agreements with the East African block, means that the European Union was seeking to weaken the EAC which is striving to strengthen itself economically.
Mr Mkapa was speaking here yesterday as a panellist during the Pan Africa Media Conference 2010 organised to mark the 50th anniversary of the Nation Media Group (NMG), themed “Media and the African Promise.”
Referring to the famous 1884 Berlin Conference, Mr Mkapa said: “If you fool me once, shame is on you, fool me twice shame is on me.”
He said Africans were taken for a ride during the Berlin Conference and that should serve as an important lesson to them when they negotiate trading partnerships with developed nations.
He said Africa should not be cajoled into EPA because there was no way underdogs could do fair business with developed nations.
He Africa will not emancipate itself from poverty and chains of colonialism until it chooses to reconsider its position in the world today through regional integration towards a United States of Africa.
“I am a realist optimist, now that regional blocks exist throughout Africa, the goal must now be to strengthen them towards a single African State,” he said.
Mr Mkapa said Africa must embrace self reliance and denounce charity while civil societies must hold accountable both the rulers and the society in order to be able to take Africa forward.
Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) are being negotiated by the European Commission on behalf of the European Union, with six groups of African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.
Four of the groups are African countries. The two other groups are the Caribbean and the Pacific regions. EPA negotiations started in 2002 and were expected to be concluded by Dec 31, 2007.
According to EPA, ACP-EU trade relations are supposed to be based on arrangements that do not need waivers or derogations from the rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Trade relations between the ACP and EU, under the Lome Conventions from 1975 up until now, have mostly been covered by waivers or derogations from WTO rules, but it is felt by the EU that the international economic order has changed and requires trade arrangements that comply with WTO rules.
Other eminent persons who participated in the debate included President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, Kenya prime Minister, Raila Odinga and Nobel peace prize laureate Prof Wangari Maathai of Kenya.
Mr Mkapa remarks come only a month after the East African Community (EAC) was pressed to end a stalemate and give a clear timetable for signing a new trade deal with the EU.
Mr Timothy Clarke, the EU’s head of delegation in Tanzania, said EPA was initialled by EAC members Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda in 2007, securing EU market access.
The deal was meant to be signed in July 2009, but the deadline passed due to a standoff over trade and development issues.
“The present stalemate needs to be broken and a realistic timetable put into place for signing the initialled agreement,” Clarke said adding:
“The status quo is not an option. Failure to move the EPA process forward at this stage... would in the (European) Commission’s view, be a major setback for the regional integration process.”
The EAC has a gross domestic product (GDP) of $73.3 billion and a population of close to 127 million. It has a customs union, and a common market is due to take effect in July.
Opening the conference earlier, President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya challenged the participants to examine how new media, which he termed as citizen journalism, can be used to deepen democracy on the African continent, in fighting the vices of corruption and nepotism, and in addressing the environmental challenges Africa must deal with due to the effects of climate change.
“The advent of citizen journalism has become possible because of tools such as SMS, blogs and social networking websites such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Myspace,” he said.
Nation Media Group founder The Aga Khan announced plans to establish a new Graduate School of Media and Communications that will be based in East Africa.
The school, the first of its kind in the region, will have its first campus in Nairobi by next year and later be integrated in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of Aga Khan University to be created in Arusha.
The proposed Graduate School of Media will offer a Masters Degree program, serving recent university graduates as well as media owners, managers, and mid-career journalists.
He said the new School would also work on the cutting edge of media technology, embracing especially the new on-line world - its complications and its potentials.
"Let me sound a word of caution. Freedom, in any area of human activity, does not mean the moral license to abuse that freedom. It would be a sad thing if the people of Africa in the name of freedom, were expected to welcome the worst of media practices, whether they are home-grown or imported,” he said adding:
“I am convinced that the best way for media, in Africa and elsewhere, to maintain their independence is to prove their indispensability.”
Among those in the packed plenary hall at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre during the morning session were President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, ex-Presidents Joachim Chissano of Mozambique, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and Information and Communications minister Samuel Poghisio.
The Citizen, March 19, 2010
Mkapa tells EA to reject trade pact with Europe
Mr Mkapa
By Ray Naluyaga,
Former President Benjamin Mkapa has warned East Africa that the championed Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) by the European Union is another Berlin Conference for the scramble of Africa.
He said the fact that the EU is bracing for equality of trade agreements with the East African block, means that the European Union was seeking to weaken the EAC which is striving to strengthen itself economically.
Mr Mkapa was speaking here yesterday as a panellist during the Pan Africa Media Conference 2010 organised to mark the 50th anniversary of the Nation Media Group (NMG), themed “Media and the African Promise.”
Referring to the famous 1884 Berlin Conference, Mr Mkapa said: “If you fool me once, shame is on you, fool me twice shame is on me.”
He said Africans were taken for a ride during the Berlin Conference and that should serve as an important lesson to them when they negotiate trading partnerships with developed nations.
He said Africa should not be cajoled into EPA because there was no way underdogs could do fair business with developed nations.
He Africa will not emancipate itself from poverty and chains of colonialism until it chooses to reconsider its position in the world today through regional integration towards a United States of Africa.
“I am a realist optimist, now that regional blocks exist throughout Africa, the goal must now be to strengthen them towards a single African State,” he said.
Mr Mkapa said Africa must embrace self reliance and denounce charity while civil societies must hold accountable both the rulers and the society in order to be able to take Africa forward.
Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) are being negotiated by the European Commission on behalf of the European Union, with six groups of African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.
Four of the groups are African countries. The two other groups are the Caribbean and the Pacific regions. EPA negotiations started in 2002 and were expected to be concluded by Dec 31, 2007.
According to EPA, ACP-EU trade relations are supposed to be based on arrangements that do not need waivers or derogations from the rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Trade relations between the ACP and EU, under the Lome Conventions from 1975 up until now, have mostly been covered by waivers or derogations from WTO rules, but it is felt by the EU that the international economic order has changed and requires trade arrangements that comply with WTO rules.
Other eminent persons who participated in the debate included President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, Kenya prime Minister, Raila Odinga and Nobel peace prize laureate Prof Wangari Maathai of Kenya.
Mr Mkapa remarks come only a month after the East African Community (EAC) was pressed to end a stalemate and give a clear timetable for signing a new trade deal with the EU.
Mr Timothy Clarke, the EU’s head of delegation in Tanzania, said EPA was initialled by EAC members Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda in 2007, securing EU market access.
The deal was meant to be signed in July 2009, but the deadline passed due to a standoff over trade and development issues.
“The present stalemate needs to be broken and a realistic timetable put into place for signing the initialled agreement,” Clarke said adding:
“The status quo is not an option. Failure to move the EPA process forward at this stage... would in the (European) Commission’s view, be a major setback for the regional integration process.”
The EAC has a gross domestic product (GDP) of $73.3 billion and a population of close to 127 million. It has a customs union, and a common market is due to take effect in July.
Opening the conference earlier, President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya challenged the participants to examine how new media, which he termed as citizen journalism, can be used to deepen democracy on the African continent, in fighting the vices of corruption and nepotism, and in addressing the environmental challenges Africa must deal with due to the effects of climate change.
“The advent of citizen journalism has become possible because of tools such as SMS, blogs and social networking websites such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Myspace,” he said.
Nation Media Group founder The Aga Khan announced plans to establish a new Graduate School of Media and Communications that will be based in East Africa.
The school, the first of its kind in the region, will have its first campus in Nairobi by next year and later be integrated in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of Aga Khan University to be created in Arusha.
The proposed Graduate School of Media will offer a Masters Degree program, serving recent university graduates as well as media owners, managers, and mid-career journalists.
He said the new School would also work on the cutting edge of media technology, embracing especially the new on-line world - its complications and its potentials.
"Let me sound a word of caution. Freedom, in any area of human activity, does not mean the moral license to abuse that freedom. It would be a sad thing if the people of Africa in the name of freedom, were expected to welcome the worst of media practices, whether they are home-grown or imported,” he said adding:
“I am convinced that the best way for media, in Africa and elsewhere, to maintain their independence is to prove their indispensability.”
Among those in the packed plenary hall at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre during the morning session were President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, ex-Presidents Joachim Chissano of Mozambique, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka and Information and Communications minister Samuel Poghisio.
Video of the breakfast function....
Nation media group staff were treated to a sumptuous breakfast as Celebrations to mark 50 years continued. Long serving members of staff were also awarded at the function held at the KICC by His Highness the Aga Khan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guWz4Fy9H14
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2010/0 ... iliMail%29
Special Supplement published by Nation Media Group to commemorate 50th Anniversary
http://www.nation.co.ke/blob/view/-/881 ... lement.pdf
Foreword by His Highness the Aga Khan for the Daily Nation 50th Anniversary special supplement
18 March 2010
After 5 decades, the future depends on ability to adapt
By His Highness the Aga Khan
(Reprinted from a foreword to the Daily Nation 50th Anniversary special supplement)
http://www.akdn.org/Content/982/
Please also see: Related Material
As the Nation Media Group (NMG) marks its 50th anniversary, it would be too limiting to perceive this occasion as a mere milestone in a history of a media organization, no matter how successful. The Nation’s path has been closely entwined with the history of Kenya, East Africa, and the entire continent during a period filled with momentous developments.
NMG itself has undergone a remarkable transformation. From two struggling Kenyan newspapers, one Kiswahili and one English, half a century ago, the group has grown into the largest multi-media enterprise in East and Central Africa. At the same time, the organization has evolved from a small private company into a publicly-traded corporation, one of the largest on the Kenya stock exchange, with a majority of its shares owned by individual East African shareholders.
My own role in the Nation Media Group has also evolved considerably. Seven years ago I gave my personal shares in NMG to the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) – the economic development arm of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). The move not only gave NMG a new source of corporate strength but it also anchored the company in a broader development philosophy designed to bring excellence and best practices to societies in the developing world. It also allowed NMG to benefit from the Network’s significant experience in East Africa.
The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development is neither a charitable foundation nor a vehicle for wealth generation. It is a for-profit, international development agency that, because of its institutional background and social conscience, invests in projects, which will make a positive contribution to the quality of life for those who are impacted by their activities.
The broader philosophy of the Aga Khan Development Network is founded on the premise that developing societies deserve the best and that settling for less, though often tempting, is an increasingly dangerous option. Our world is competitive: like other AKFED companies, the Nation Media Group must strive to meet world-class standards if it is to thrive and grow in the globalized world of the 21st century.
Our Network, I should also emphasize, is active in a broad range of development fields, from environmental, humanitarian and civil society projects to microfinance and infrastructure investments, to cultural, health-related and educational support. East Africa has been an important setting for our work in all of these arenas, including, most recently, major new initiatives in education.
For example, Kenya is the home of the first functioning Aga Khan Academy, located in Mombasa, and one of a network of 18 schools that will eventually provide world class primary and secondary education to talented students in 14 countries across three continents. I am pleased that East Africa will also host the continent’s first faculty of Arts and Sciences of the Aga Khan University (AKU) as well as the university’s new Graduate School of Media and Communication. It is my sincere hope that the school, which will be initially located in Nairobi and later extended to the new Arusha campus, will help Africa in particular and the developing world in general to develop an ever-stronger corps of owners, media managers, public-spirited professional journalists who will be able to adapt and excel in a rapidly changing media environment.
I believe that the media in general and the Nation Group in particular can play a central role in the shaping of the region and the continent in the years ahead, as part of the growing influence of civil society institutions in an increasingly pluralistic environment. Indeed Kofi Annan, arbitrator of the post-election reconciliation agreement in Kenya, acknowledged the Nation’s work in mobilising the forces of civil society in the cause of stability.
Anniversaries tend to lend themselves to reminiscing about the past— and, most appropriately, to saluting those who have been a part of that past, as I am pleased to join in doing. But commemorative occasions also present an excellent opportunity to look toward the future. NMG has had an impressive record of past achievement , dealing successfully over five decades with a wide variety of challenges and opportunities, and emerging as what some have called a journalistic “Mzee” of East Africa. But now, NMG’s future will depend on its continued ability to learn and to adapt, to attract leaders and employees of the highest quality, and, driven by an ethic of responsible service, maintain the confidence of its reading, viewing, advertising and shareholding constituents.
*****
At 50, NMG affirms media freedom goal
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/ ... index.html
Nairobi
The Nation Media Group (NMG) began celebrations to mark 50 years with a firm commitment to remain focused on independent news coverage.
The group’s founder, His Highness the Aga Khan, told the Pan African Media Conference in Nairobi on Thursday that he started off in 1960 with the belief that newly-independent African nations would thrive well where there was an independent media. He holds the same belief for the future.
“News media that sought independence, generally speaking, had a difficult life,” said the Aga Khan.
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“One of them was the now defunct British newspaper, the News Chronicle, edited by the late Michael Curtis who later played such a central role in the Nation story. With him, we believed that the tradition of non-aligned newspapers was the most appropriate for Africa. We still believe that today.”
No easy task
He sought to explain to those present—including Presidents Mwai Kibaki (Kenya), Paul Kagame (Rwanda), Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga and a host of delegates—the difficulty of preserving independence as he promised to stay the path.
“It has not always been easy to explain this role — to share our understanding that independence from parties, or interest groups or governments should not and does not mean some sort of reflexive opposition to them. Not having a special agenda does not imply some counter-agenda. Being independent is not the same as being oppositional,” he said.
“Truly independent media cannot be predictably partisan, narrowly politicised, nor superficially personalised. Journalistic shortcomings cannot be disguised behind political or partisan agendas. So, the idea of ‘best practice’ became a second NMG goal: to try to identify, educate and harness the best media talent we could find.”
The Aga Khan said media freedom is increasingly under threat globally.
“For every nation that moves forward in terms of press freedom, two nations are said to be slipping backward,” he said, adding: “But let me sound a word of caution. Freedom, in any area of human activity does not mean the moral licence to abuse that freedom.”
President Kibaki said Kenya was committed to media freedom and cited the increased outlets established in the last seven years.
Journalism school coming
A graduate school of media studies will be established to better train journalists across East Africa, His Highness the Aga Khan said.
The school, to be built in the next year, will help improve the quality of journalism, he said at the ongoing Pan African Media conference in Nairobi.
“I am pleased to tell you that the Aga Khan University is planning to establish a new Graduate School of Media and Communications based in East Africa and dedicated to advancing the excellence of media performance and strengthening of ethical media practices throughout the developing world. The school will be driven, above all, by an absolute commitment to quality,” he said.
“In a world of growing complexity, journalists must increasingly understand the substantive, sophisticated dimensions of the fields on which they report — from medical and environmental sciences, to economic and financial disciplines, to legal and constitutional matters. And a new generation of African media entrepreneurs could well be born from programmes which blend economic and media disciplines,” he said.
The conference had lively debates, with panels comprising top political and media personalities, discussing a range of topics.
*****
Nation media group staff were treated to a sumptuous breakfast as Celebrations to mark 50 years continued. Long serving members of staff were also awarded at the function held at the KICC by His Highness the Aga Khan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guWz4Fy9H14
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2010/0 ... iliMail%29
Special Supplement published by Nation Media Group to commemorate 50th Anniversary
http://www.nation.co.ke/blob/view/-/881 ... lement.pdf
Foreword by His Highness the Aga Khan for the Daily Nation 50th Anniversary special supplement
18 March 2010
After 5 decades, the future depends on ability to adapt
By His Highness the Aga Khan
(Reprinted from a foreword to the Daily Nation 50th Anniversary special supplement)
http://www.akdn.org/Content/982/
Please also see: Related Material
As the Nation Media Group (NMG) marks its 50th anniversary, it would be too limiting to perceive this occasion as a mere milestone in a history of a media organization, no matter how successful. The Nation’s path has been closely entwined with the history of Kenya, East Africa, and the entire continent during a period filled with momentous developments.
NMG itself has undergone a remarkable transformation. From two struggling Kenyan newspapers, one Kiswahili and one English, half a century ago, the group has grown into the largest multi-media enterprise in East and Central Africa. At the same time, the organization has evolved from a small private company into a publicly-traded corporation, one of the largest on the Kenya stock exchange, with a majority of its shares owned by individual East African shareholders.
My own role in the Nation Media Group has also evolved considerably. Seven years ago I gave my personal shares in NMG to the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) – the economic development arm of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). The move not only gave NMG a new source of corporate strength but it also anchored the company in a broader development philosophy designed to bring excellence and best practices to societies in the developing world. It also allowed NMG to benefit from the Network’s significant experience in East Africa.
The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development is neither a charitable foundation nor a vehicle for wealth generation. It is a for-profit, international development agency that, because of its institutional background and social conscience, invests in projects, which will make a positive contribution to the quality of life for those who are impacted by their activities.
The broader philosophy of the Aga Khan Development Network is founded on the premise that developing societies deserve the best and that settling for less, though often tempting, is an increasingly dangerous option. Our world is competitive: like other AKFED companies, the Nation Media Group must strive to meet world-class standards if it is to thrive and grow in the globalized world of the 21st century.
Our Network, I should also emphasize, is active in a broad range of development fields, from environmental, humanitarian and civil society projects to microfinance and infrastructure investments, to cultural, health-related and educational support. East Africa has been an important setting for our work in all of these arenas, including, most recently, major new initiatives in education.
For example, Kenya is the home of the first functioning Aga Khan Academy, located in Mombasa, and one of a network of 18 schools that will eventually provide world class primary and secondary education to talented students in 14 countries across three continents. I am pleased that East Africa will also host the continent’s first faculty of Arts and Sciences of the Aga Khan University (AKU) as well as the university’s new Graduate School of Media and Communication. It is my sincere hope that the school, which will be initially located in Nairobi and later extended to the new Arusha campus, will help Africa in particular and the developing world in general to develop an ever-stronger corps of owners, media managers, public-spirited professional journalists who will be able to adapt and excel in a rapidly changing media environment.
I believe that the media in general and the Nation Group in particular can play a central role in the shaping of the region and the continent in the years ahead, as part of the growing influence of civil society institutions in an increasingly pluralistic environment. Indeed Kofi Annan, arbitrator of the post-election reconciliation agreement in Kenya, acknowledged the Nation’s work in mobilising the forces of civil society in the cause of stability.
Anniversaries tend to lend themselves to reminiscing about the past— and, most appropriately, to saluting those who have been a part of that past, as I am pleased to join in doing. But commemorative occasions also present an excellent opportunity to look toward the future. NMG has had an impressive record of past achievement , dealing successfully over five decades with a wide variety of challenges and opportunities, and emerging as what some have called a journalistic “Mzee” of East Africa. But now, NMG’s future will depend on its continued ability to learn and to adapt, to attract leaders and employees of the highest quality, and, driven by an ethic of responsible service, maintain the confidence of its reading, viewing, advertising and shareholding constituents.
*****
At 50, NMG affirms media freedom goal
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/ ... index.html
Nairobi
The Nation Media Group (NMG) began celebrations to mark 50 years with a firm commitment to remain focused on independent news coverage.
The group’s founder, His Highness the Aga Khan, told the Pan African Media Conference in Nairobi on Thursday that he started off in 1960 with the belief that newly-independent African nations would thrive well where there was an independent media. He holds the same belief for the future.
“News media that sought independence, generally speaking, had a difficult life,” said the Aga Khan.
Related Stories
Nation Media Group gives Shs25m to Bududa
“One of them was the now defunct British newspaper, the News Chronicle, edited by the late Michael Curtis who later played such a central role in the Nation story. With him, we believed that the tradition of non-aligned newspapers was the most appropriate for Africa. We still believe that today.”
No easy task
He sought to explain to those present—including Presidents Mwai Kibaki (Kenya), Paul Kagame (Rwanda), Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga and a host of delegates—the difficulty of preserving independence as he promised to stay the path.
“It has not always been easy to explain this role — to share our understanding that independence from parties, or interest groups or governments should not and does not mean some sort of reflexive opposition to them. Not having a special agenda does not imply some counter-agenda. Being independent is not the same as being oppositional,” he said.
“Truly independent media cannot be predictably partisan, narrowly politicised, nor superficially personalised. Journalistic shortcomings cannot be disguised behind political or partisan agendas. So, the idea of ‘best practice’ became a second NMG goal: to try to identify, educate and harness the best media talent we could find.”
The Aga Khan said media freedom is increasingly under threat globally.
“For every nation that moves forward in terms of press freedom, two nations are said to be slipping backward,” he said, adding: “But let me sound a word of caution. Freedom, in any area of human activity does not mean the moral licence to abuse that freedom.”
President Kibaki said Kenya was committed to media freedom and cited the increased outlets established in the last seven years.
Journalism school coming
A graduate school of media studies will be established to better train journalists across East Africa, His Highness the Aga Khan said.
The school, to be built in the next year, will help improve the quality of journalism, he said at the ongoing Pan African Media conference in Nairobi.
“I am pleased to tell you that the Aga Khan University is planning to establish a new Graduate School of Media and Communications based in East Africa and dedicated to advancing the excellence of media performance and strengthening of ethical media practices throughout the developing world. The school will be driven, above all, by an absolute commitment to quality,” he said.
“In a world of growing complexity, journalists must increasingly understand the substantive, sophisticated dimensions of the fields on which they report — from medical and environmental sciences, to economic and financial disciplines, to legal and constitutional matters. And a new generation of African media entrepreneurs could well be born from programmes which blend economic and media disciplines,” he said.
The conference had lively debates, with panels comprising top political and media personalities, discussing a range of topics.
*****
Last edited by kmaherali on Sat Mar 20, 2010 9:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Last edited by Admin on Mon Mar 22, 2010 1:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
A half century of the Daily Nation
One of the earliest components of what eventually came to be known as the Aga Khan Development Network resulted from Mawlana Hazar Imam’s purchase in 1959 of a Kenyan Kiswahili daily called Taifa Leo. This was followed in the next year by the founding of the English language Daily Nation.
Stan Denman, Managing Director of Nation Printers and Publishers (now NMG), with Mawlana Hazar Imam and Vin Duncan, Production Manager of Nation Newspapers in 1981. Photo: Courtesy of Nation Media Group
Speaking in 2005 at the opening of the International Press Institute World Congress that was held in Kenya, Hazar Imam noted that, “At that time, many African nations had freshly emerged from colonial rule, and I believed that good journalism could play a critical role in their development.” He had strong support from young African politicians in the pursuit of this objective.
The newspaper business in Kenya at that time was dominated by the colonial press, which did not represent the interests and aspirations of the local people. There were some very definite innovations that the Nation introduced into Kenya’s mainstream English language press. While not neglecting international news, it brought national reporting to the fore. Its stories were presented in accessible writing and its format allowed for easy navigation through the contents. Unlike the broadsheet size of its main competitor, the East African Standard, the Nation adopted a smaller size which made it easier to handle.
True to its mission of helping the newly independent country discover its civic voice, it also employed many African journalists. The paper was soon to be edited and managed by African staff. Readers noticed the difference in style and content, and the Nation emerged as the most popular daily in Kenya. However, reaching out to a mass readership did not mean that journalistic standards were compromised.
Mawlana Hazar Imam has expressed strong views on journalism, which are underpinned by an ethical framework. Whereas he is convinced that journalism is a force for development and that it has an important role in ensuring issues affecting public interests are discussed openly, he said that:
“...journalists must move beyond a primarily adversarial relationship with those they write about. To be sure, the role of the independent critic can be a vital role – but it is not the only role. If the dominating assumption of media is that the rest of society is up to no good, that the best journalism is what many call ‘gotcha’ journalism, then the media will forfeit a more constructive and nobler role.”
A woman reads Taifa Leo, the Nation Media Group’s Kiswahili-language daily. Photo: Courtesy of Nation Media Group
Hazar Imam has been supportive of the freedom of the press, but has cautioned that it not be used to shield the media from a sense of social accountability. He has pointed out that the journalists who are underpaid and the media owners whose institutions are financially unstable can become vulnerable to corruption.
“Our experience with the Nation newspapers in Kenya has demonstrated that journalistic improvement goes hand in hand with financial health,” noted Mawlana Hazar Imam at the Commonwealth Press Union Conference held in South Africa in 1996. Hazar Imam draws a clear distinction between the financial health of newspapers and profit-driven media which often are sensationalistic. The reduction of news to entertainment and exploitation of ethnic and religious differences in society can have very negative consequences.
The Nation has made systematic investments in the training of its staff and upgrading of its facilities to ensure that it delivers good content in the most effective manner. It also has sought to upgrade the skills of its management and has instituted an in-house educational programme for journalists. The Aga Khan University will be establishing a Graduate School of Media and Communications in East Africa to enhance such training.
One of the key features of the Nation has been its determination to remain at the forefront of media technology in order to deliver a good product. Hazar Imam noted that “The Nation was in the 1960s among the very first newspapers outside North America to embrace computerised typesetting.” By the mid-1990s, it was a leader in moving into multimedia technologies and making available its publications globally through the Internet.
Mawlana Hazar Imam gathered with management and editorial staff at the Nation newsroom in 1981. Photo: Courtesy of Nation Media GroupThe newspaper has expanded into the Nation Media Group (NMG), the largest media company in the East African region. NMG has a suite of dailies and weeklies and runs radio and television stations in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The Nation Digital Division is responsible for the Group’s Internet and mobile telecommunications activities. NMG’s shares are publicly traded on the Nairobi stock exchange and are owned by thousands of local shareholders.
The Nation Media Group is also part of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED), a unique development agency that operates on a commercial, for-profit basis, but which reinvests any profits it generates into further development work. AKFED is dedicated to promoting private initiatives and building economically sound enterprises in the developing world — and the Nation is a part of that story.
At its fiftieth birthday, the Nation is the flagship of a very successful enterprise to enable Africans to have a say in their own societies’ development.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Professor Karim H. Karim is Co-Director of the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London. He previously was the Director of Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication in Ottawa. Dr. Karim is a also a member of the Advisory Group working to establish the Aga Khan University’s Graduate School of Media and Communications. He grew up in Kenya reading the Daily Nation and the Sunday Nation. He published several articles in these newspapers as a Canadian correspondent for Inter Press Service and Compass News Features.
http://www.theismaili.org/cms/962/A-hal ... ily-Nation
One of the earliest components of what eventually came to be known as the Aga Khan Development Network resulted from Mawlana Hazar Imam’s purchase in 1959 of a Kenyan Kiswahili daily called Taifa Leo. This was followed in the next year by the founding of the English language Daily Nation.
Stan Denman, Managing Director of Nation Printers and Publishers (now NMG), with Mawlana Hazar Imam and Vin Duncan, Production Manager of Nation Newspapers in 1981. Photo: Courtesy of Nation Media Group
Speaking in 2005 at the opening of the International Press Institute World Congress that was held in Kenya, Hazar Imam noted that, “At that time, many African nations had freshly emerged from colonial rule, and I believed that good journalism could play a critical role in their development.” He had strong support from young African politicians in the pursuit of this objective.
The newspaper business in Kenya at that time was dominated by the colonial press, which did not represent the interests and aspirations of the local people. There were some very definite innovations that the Nation introduced into Kenya’s mainstream English language press. While not neglecting international news, it brought national reporting to the fore. Its stories were presented in accessible writing and its format allowed for easy navigation through the contents. Unlike the broadsheet size of its main competitor, the East African Standard, the Nation adopted a smaller size which made it easier to handle.
True to its mission of helping the newly independent country discover its civic voice, it also employed many African journalists. The paper was soon to be edited and managed by African staff. Readers noticed the difference in style and content, and the Nation emerged as the most popular daily in Kenya. However, reaching out to a mass readership did not mean that journalistic standards were compromised.
Mawlana Hazar Imam has expressed strong views on journalism, which are underpinned by an ethical framework. Whereas he is convinced that journalism is a force for development and that it has an important role in ensuring issues affecting public interests are discussed openly, he said that:
“...journalists must move beyond a primarily adversarial relationship with those they write about. To be sure, the role of the independent critic can be a vital role – but it is not the only role. If the dominating assumption of media is that the rest of society is up to no good, that the best journalism is what many call ‘gotcha’ journalism, then the media will forfeit a more constructive and nobler role.”
A woman reads Taifa Leo, the Nation Media Group’s Kiswahili-language daily. Photo: Courtesy of Nation Media Group
Hazar Imam has been supportive of the freedom of the press, but has cautioned that it not be used to shield the media from a sense of social accountability. He has pointed out that the journalists who are underpaid and the media owners whose institutions are financially unstable can become vulnerable to corruption.
“Our experience with the Nation newspapers in Kenya has demonstrated that journalistic improvement goes hand in hand with financial health,” noted Mawlana Hazar Imam at the Commonwealth Press Union Conference held in South Africa in 1996. Hazar Imam draws a clear distinction between the financial health of newspapers and profit-driven media which often are sensationalistic. The reduction of news to entertainment and exploitation of ethnic and religious differences in society can have very negative consequences.
The Nation has made systematic investments in the training of its staff and upgrading of its facilities to ensure that it delivers good content in the most effective manner. It also has sought to upgrade the skills of its management and has instituted an in-house educational programme for journalists. The Aga Khan University will be establishing a Graduate School of Media and Communications in East Africa to enhance such training.
One of the key features of the Nation has been its determination to remain at the forefront of media technology in order to deliver a good product. Hazar Imam noted that “The Nation was in the 1960s among the very first newspapers outside North America to embrace computerised typesetting.” By the mid-1990s, it was a leader in moving into multimedia technologies and making available its publications globally through the Internet.
Mawlana Hazar Imam gathered with management and editorial staff at the Nation newsroom in 1981. Photo: Courtesy of Nation Media GroupThe newspaper has expanded into the Nation Media Group (NMG), the largest media company in the East African region. NMG has a suite of dailies and weeklies and runs radio and television stations in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The Nation Digital Division is responsible for the Group’s Internet and mobile telecommunications activities. NMG’s shares are publicly traded on the Nairobi stock exchange and are owned by thousands of local shareholders.
The Nation Media Group is also part of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED), a unique development agency that operates on a commercial, for-profit basis, but which reinvests any profits it generates into further development work. AKFED is dedicated to promoting private initiatives and building economically sound enterprises in the developing world — and the Nation is a part of that story.
At its fiftieth birthday, the Nation is the flagship of a very successful enterprise to enable Africans to have a say in their own societies’ development.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Professor Karim H. Karim is Co-Director of the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London. He previously was the Director of Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication in Ottawa. Dr. Karim is a also a member of the Advisory Group working to establish the Aga Khan University’s Graduate School of Media and Communications. He grew up in Kenya reading the Daily Nation and the Sunday Nation. He published several articles in these newspapers as a Canadian correspondent for Inter Press Service and Compass News Features.
http://www.theismaili.org/cms/962/A-hal ... ily-Nation
PICTURES: Pan Africa media conference
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/882 ... index.html
When ‘Nation’ told Kenyatta No — and changed course of Kenya’s history
Posted Friday, March 19 2010 at 19:11
The history of Nation and that of Kenya is closely intertwined. In this first instalment of the newly-published book, BIRTH OF A NATION: The Story of a Newspaper in Kenya, the author discloses for the first time how Mzee Kenyatta’s bid to control the media house was politely but firmly rejected.
Related Stories
When the $3 million Serena Hotel in Nairobi was opened on 16 February 1976, there came a moment when four men found themselves together: the president of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta; the leader of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims worldwide, His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan; and two Kenyan businessmen, Udi Gecaga and Ngengi Muigai.
According to an executive on the fringe, Kenyatta addressed the Aga Khan: ‘This is my nephew, Mr Muigai. He has just come back from America and I was wondering if it was possible to find a position for him in your newspapers.’ The Aga Khan appeared taken aback but replied politely that he was sure that would be possible, but he would have to make enquiries. Gecaga and Muigai looked unhappy at this guarded response, but the Kenyan president nodded and the group split up.
More....
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/When%20Nat ... index.html
*****
Recollection of the Nation newspaper in Tanzania, by Sultan Jessa, a retired Ismaili journalist March 20, 2010
His Highness the Aga Khan spent several days in Kenya to mark the 50 year jubilee celebrations of the Nation newspapers. He pledged to uphold free media when he spoke at the Pan African Media Conference in Nairobi. The founder of the Nation group gave a firm commitment to remain focused on independent news coverage.
The Aga Khan told the conference he started Nation in 1960 with the belief that newly independent African nations would thrive well where there was an independent media. He said he hold the same belief for the future.
Here are two flash backs from headlines appearing in the Daily Nation.
These have been provided by Sultan Jessa, a retired Ismaili journalist, who at one time worked as chief correspondent of Daily and Sunday Nation in Tanzania and later moved to work in Kenya before moving to Canada.
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2010/0 ... iliMail%29
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/882 ... index.html
When ‘Nation’ told Kenyatta No — and changed course of Kenya’s history
Posted Friday, March 19 2010 at 19:11
The history of Nation and that of Kenya is closely intertwined. In this first instalment of the newly-published book, BIRTH OF A NATION: The Story of a Newspaper in Kenya, the author discloses for the first time how Mzee Kenyatta’s bid to control the media house was politely but firmly rejected.
Related Stories
When the $3 million Serena Hotel in Nairobi was opened on 16 February 1976, there came a moment when four men found themselves together: the president of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta; the leader of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims worldwide, His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan; and two Kenyan businessmen, Udi Gecaga and Ngengi Muigai.
According to an executive on the fringe, Kenyatta addressed the Aga Khan: ‘This is my nephew, Mr Muigai. He has just come back from America and I was wondering if it was possible to find a position for him in your newspapers.’ The Aga Khan appeared taken aback but replied politely that he was sure that would be possible, but he would have to make enquiries. Gecaga and Muigai looked unhappy at this guarded response, but the Kenyan president nodded and the group split up.
More....
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/When%20Nat ... index.html
*****
Recollection of the Nation newspaper in Tanzania, by Sultan Jessa, a retired Ismaili journalist March 20, 2010
His Highness the Aga Khan spent several days in Kenya to mark the 50 year jubilee celebrations of the Nation newspapers. He pledged to uphold free media when he spoke at the Pan African Media Conference in Nairobi. The founder of the Nation group gave a firm commitment to remain focused on independent news coverage.
The Aga Khan told the conference he started Nation in 1960 with the belief that newly independent African nations would thrive well where there was an independent media. He said he hold the same belief for the future.
Here are two flash backs from headlines appearing in the Daily Nation.
These have been provided by Sultan Jessa, a retired Ismaili journalist, who at one time worked as chief correspondent of Daily and Sunday Nation in Tanzania and later moved to work in Kenya before moving to Canada.
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2010/0 ... iliMail%29
By PHILIP NGUNJIRI (email the author)
Posted Monday, March 22 2010 at 00:00
The Aga Khan Development Network has launched a new faculty at the Aga Khan University — the Graduate School of Media and Communications.
To be allied to the new Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the plans for the new media school were announced by the Aga Khan at the Pan African Media Conference 2010 held from March 17-18 to coincide with celebrations of the Nation Media Group’s 50th anniversary.
The Aga Khan, who founded the group in 1960, said the school “will be driven, above all, by an absolute commitment to quality,” adding, “In a world of growing complexity, journalists must increasingly understand the substantive, sophisticated dimensions of the fields on which they report — from medical and environmental sciences to economic and financial disciplines to legal and constitutional matters.”
Nation experience
The new initiative will build on the Nation’s experience and the unique strengths of the Network in the region and globally — including expertise, institutions, and resources in social, economic and cultural areas of activity.
According to Aga Khan University President Firoz Rasul, the school will strive to attract a vibrant intellectual community, anchored by a core of committed media professionals and scholars of diverse backgrounds and expertise and enriched by visiting, adjunct and exchange faculty members.
“Initially, its core faculty will together possess critical areas of expertise, including excellence in journalistic practice, media ethics, law and social responsibility, media management, media and global and societal issues,” Mr Rasul said, adding, “The school will cultivate and maintain a dynamic adjunct and visiting faculty cohort through partnerships with academic institutions across Africa and globally, drawing on the diverse array of international and regional media professionals based in Nairobi.”
It will further focus on reaching rural and marginalised communities, according to Nazeer Ladhani, the director of the School.
“The school will achieve this by providing a sustainable institutional platform for strengthening wider media ecosystems in East Africa and more broadly in the developing world,” he told The EastAfrican.
Planning of the school’s programmes and facilities has begun and, over the next year, an initial campus will be established in Nairobi, he added.
The school will seek to build partnerships with NMG — along with other media enterprises across Africa — to develop and deliver programmes and training that meets the diverse needs of the sector.
The formal launch of the school is anticipated in 2011, although some pre-opening activities — such as faculty development and African pedagogical content development initiatives; and events convened by the African Global Forum for Media and Society — will begin this year.
“A dedicated website will soon be launched that will track the progress of the school’s development and profile upcoming events and activities,” said Mr Ladhani.
AKDN has long recognised the role that a diverse, independent and socially responsible media sector can play in strengthening development, pluralism, and governance outcomes.
For half a century, the Network’s commitment to improving the quality, reach and impact of journalism in Africa has been expressed through the Nation Media Group.
Majority owned and run by East Africans, NMG’s operations include a growing number of English and Kiswahili national newspapers; a regional weekly – The EastAfrican; and radio and television stations.
In recent years, the Group has expanded its operations into Uganda and Tanzania. NMG’s success is underpinned by quality content, independent reporting, investment in professional development, and state-of-the-art technology.
Through world class, locally relevant educational programmes and pedagogy, the Graduate School of Media and Communication will foster a critical mass of diverse, media leaders, enterprises and institutions distinguished by the highest standards of competence, ethics, professionalism and social responsibility.
Posted Monday, March 22 2010 at 00:00
The Aga Khan Development Network has launched a new faculty at the Aga Khan University — the Graduate School of Media and Communications.
To be allied to the new Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the plans for the new media school were announced by the Aga Khan at the Pan African Media Conference 2010 held from March 17-18 to coincide with celebrations of the Nation Media Group’s 50th anniversary.
The Aga Khan, who founded the group in 1960, said the school “will be driven, above all, by an absolute commitment to quality,” adding, “In a world of growing complexity, journalists must increasingly understand the substantive, sophisticated dimensions of the fields on which they report — from medical and environmental sciences to economic and financial disciplines to legal and constitutional matters.”
Nation experience
The new initiative will build on the Nation’s experience and the unique strengths of the Network in the region and globally — including expertise, institutions, and resources in social, economic and cultural areas of activity.
According to Aga Khan University President Firoz Rasul, the school will strive to attract a vibrant intellectual community, anchored by a core of committed media professionals and scholars of diverse backgrounds and expertise and enriched by visiting, adjunct and exchange faculty members.
“Initially, its core faculty will together possess critical areas of expertise, including excellence in journalistic practice, media ethics, law and social responsibility, media management, media and global and societal issues,” Mr Rasul said, adding, “The school will cultivate and maintain a dynamic adjunct and visiting faculty cohort through partnerships with academic institutions across Africa and globally, drawing on the diverse array of international and regional media professionals based in Nairobi.”
It will further focus on reaching rural and marginalised communities, according to Nazeer Ladhani, the director of the School.
“The school will achieve this by providing a sustainable institutional platform for strengthening wider media ecosystems in East Africa and more broadly in the developing world,” he told The EastAfrican.
Planning of the school’s programmes and facilities has begun and, over the next year, an initial campus will be established in Nairobi, he added.
The school will seek to build partnerships with NMG — along with other media enterprises across Africa — to develop and deliver programmes and training that meets the diverse needs of the sector.
The formal launch of the school is anticipated in 2011, although some pre-opening activities — such as faculty development and African pedagogical content development initiatives; and events convened by the African Global Forum for Media and Society — will begin this year.
“A dedicated website will soon be launched that will track the progress of the school’s development and profile upcoming events and activities,” said Mr Ladhani.
AKDN has long recognised the role that a diverse, independent and socially responsible media sector can play in strengthening development, pluralism, and governance outcomes.
For half a century, the Network’s commitment to improving the quality, reach and impact of journalism in Africa has been expressed through the Nation Media Group.
Majority owned and run by East Africans, NMG’s operations include a growing number of English and Kiswahili national newspapers; a regional weekly – The EastAfrican; and radio and television stations.
In recent years, the Group has expanded its operations into Uganda and Tanzania. NMG’s success is underpinned by quality content, independent reporting, investment in professional development, and state-of-the-art technology.
Through world class, locally relevant educational programmes and pedagogy, the Graduate School of Media and Communication will foster a critical mass of diverse, media leaders, enterprises and institutions distinguished by the highest standards of competence, ethics, professionalism and social responsibility.
Last edited by Admin on Mon Mar 22, 2010 1:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
NMG's 50 year journey (4 Parts)
A documentary on the Nation Media Group's 50 year journey. It highlights some challenges faced, both pre-colonial and post colonial times that shaped it up to be the leading media house in East and Central Africa.
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p ... 93951EC400
A documentary on the Nation Media Group's 50 year journey. It highlights some challenges faced, both pre-colonial and post colonial times that shaped it up to be the leading media house in East and Central Africa.
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p ... 93951EC400
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/Education ... 11251ed/-/
Daily Monitor
Aga Khan University to start media school next year
By Patience Ahimbisibwe (email the author)
Posted Monday, March 22 2010 at 00:00
The Aga Khan University anticipates a formal launch of the School in 2011, although some pre-opening activities – such as faculty development and African pedagogical content development initiatives will begin this year.
Kampala
The Aga Khan University will establish a media excellence centre in a bid to strengthen ethical media practices next year.
The announcement of the Graduate School of Media and Communications in East Africa was made at the opening of Nation Media Group’s celebrations to mark its golden jubilee on March 18.
His Highness the Aga Khan, Chancellor of Aga Khan University made the announcement at the opening ceremony of the inaugural Pan Africa Media Conference in Nairobi.
“The School will be driven, above all, by an absolute commitment to quality,” he told the delegates, adding that the School will also create a “forum on Media Future, which will be a place for conducting and disseminating cutting edge research that will help shape public communication in the decades ahead.”
The Aga Khan observed that journalists must increasingly understand the substantive, sophisticated dimensions of the fields on which they report, adding that a new generation of African media entrepreneurs could well be borne from programmes which blend economic and media disciplines.
Based in Nairobi, Kenya, the school will work closely, not only with the Nation Media Group but also with other local, continental and international media organisations.
Attract professionals
The School shall aspire to attract a vibrant, intellectual community, anchored by a core of committed media professionals, educators, and scholars of diverse backgrounds and expertise.
This will be supplemented by visiting, adjunct and exchange faculty members.
Initially, its core faculty will be required to possess excellence in journalistic practice, media ethics, law and social responsibility and media management. Other requirements will be media, global and societal issues and new media and technology.
Additionally, the school will cultivate and maintain a dynamic adjunct and visiting faculty cohort through partnerships with academic institutions across Africa and globally, drawing on the diverse array of international and regional media professionals based in Nairobi.
The Aga Khan University anticipates a formal launch of the School in 2011, although some pre-opening activities – such as faculty development and African pedagogical content development initiatives will begin this year.
NMG’s success is underpinned by quality content, independent reporting, investment in professional development, and state-of-the-art technology.
Several components
Among others, the School will have several components ranging from a Masters Degree programme, serving university graduates as well as media owners, managers, and mid-career journalists; continuing education classes designed to enhance media skills and nurture media values and a special programme in media management.
The initiative will be one of the first in the developing world devoted to enhancing more robust media institutions.
In the long term, the Graduate School of Media and Communication will ally itself with another new project of the Aga Khan University, a Faculty of Arts and Sciences, to be created in the coming years in Arusha, Tanzania.
Daily Monitor
Aga Khan University to start media school next year
By Patience Ahimbisibwe (email the author)
Posted Monday, March 22 2010 at 00:00
The Aga Khan University anticipates a formal launch of the School in 2011, although some pre-opening activities – such as faculty development and African pedagogical content development initiatives will begin this year.
Kampala
The Aga Khan University will establish a media excellence centre in a bid to strengthen ethical media practices next year.
The announcement of the Graduate School of Media and Communications in East Africa was made at the opening of Nation Media Group’s celebrations to mark its golden jubilee on March 18.
His Highness the Aga Khan, Chancellor of Aga Khan University made the announcement at the opening ceremony of the inaugural Pan Africa Media Conference in Nairobi.
“The School will be driven, above all, by an absolute commitment to quality,” he told the delegates, adding that the School will also create a “forum on Media Future, which will be a place for conducting and disseminating cutting edge research that will help shape public communication in the decades ahead.”
The Aga Khan observed that journalists must increasingly understand the substantive, sophisticated dimensions of the fields on which they report, adding that a new generation of African media entrepreneurs could well be borne from programmes which blend economic and media disciplines.
Based in Nairobi, Kenya, the school will work closely, not only with the Nation Media Group but also with other local, continental and international media organisations.
Attract professionals
The School shall aspire to attract a vibrant, intellectual community, anchored by a core of committed media professionals, educators, and scholars of diverse backgrounds and expertise.
This will be supplemented by visiting, adjunct and exchange faculty members.
Initially, its core faculty will be required to possess excellence in journalistic practice, media ethics, law and social responsibility and media management. Other requirements will be media, global and societal issues and new media and technology.
Additionally, the school will cultivate and maintain a dynamic adjunct and visiting faculty cohort through partnerships with academic institutions across Africa and globally, drawing on the diverse array of international and regional media professionals based in Nairobi.
The Aga Khan University anticipates a formal launch of the School in 2011, although some pre-opening activities – such as faculty development and African pedagogical content development initiatives will begin this year.
NMG’s success is underpinned by quality content, independent reporting, investment in professional development, and state-of-the-art technology.
Several components
Among others, the School will have several components ranging from a Masters Degree programme, serving university graduates as well as media owners, managers, and mid-career journalists; continuing education classes designed to enhance media skills and nurture media values and a special programme in media management.
The initiative will be one of the first in the developing world devoted to enhancing more robust media institutions.
In the long term, the Graduate School of Media and Communication will ally itself with another new project of the Aga Khan University, a Faculty of Arts and Sciences, to be created in the coming years in Arusha, Tanzania.
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Reflection ... 15lxh9n/-/
The Aga Khan honours the longest serving Nation distributor from Kisumu, Mr Abdul Ibrahim and his wife Zarin Daya. Mr Ibrahim has distributed the newspaper from 1960 when the first edition was published. He was awarded as part of the Nation Media Group 50th anniversary Celebration held at the KICC in Nairobi last Friday. Photo/FREDRICK ONYANGO
Tuesday
March 23, 2010
Reflections on the past, challenges for the future
The Aga Khan honours the longest serving Nation distributor from Kisumu, Mr Abdul Ibrahim and his wife Zarin Daya. Mr Ibrahim has distributed the newspaper from 1960 when the first edition was published. He was awarded as part of the Nation Media Group 50th anniversary Celebration held at the KICC in Nairobi last Friday. Photo/FREDRICK ONYANGO
By GERARD WILKINSON
Posted Tuesday, March 23 2010 at 21:00
In Summary
* Nation Media Group Director GERARD WILKINSON, takes us back to early days of the newspaper
I first arrived in Nairobi in July 1971, three weeks after my wife, Anna, and I had married in her home town in Italy. The previous November, living in Ireland and employed at the country’s leading media group, I had spotted an advertisement in the appointments section of the UK’s Sunday Times.
A Kenyan printing and publishing group — as yet unidentified -— was looking for a marketing manager, a position that even in Europe at the time was relatively new. As with my previous employer, I was to be the Nation group’s first marketing manager.
Thus, still in our 20’s, Anna and I set foot in Kenya for the first time, a country which was to be our home for close on eight years — but a country with which I would, as a director of the group, maintain an on-going association for close on forty years.
Kenya, just eight years into independence, was a vibrant country adapting to change. The new managerial post at the Nation involved immediately developing an understanding of readers, their interests and demands and by so doing, seeking to build circulations.
Relevant audiences
At the same time, in view of the key importance of advertising revenues in the funding of the operations, it also entailed understanding advertisers, their needs and demands and delivering to them relevant audiences at competitive advertising rates.
The already established independence and editorial quality of the Daily Nation, Sunday Nation, Taifa Leo and Taifa Weekly, directed initially by people like John Bierman, Jack Beverly, Hilary Ng’weno, Boaz Omori, Joe Rodrigues among others, had given them, after just a decade, a lead over the much older publications in the market.
This was a situation we were able to exploit achieving significant annual increases in sales and market shares, helped by the early introduction of full colour.
At this early point in the company’s history, the Nation newspapers division was very advanced technically, under the charge of two senior printing professionals, Frank Pattrick and Stan Denman.
Start-up losses
It was running one of the very first web-offset daily newspaper printing presses outside North America, as well as pioneering an early system of computerised typesetting. In effect these two advances represented cutting edge newspaper technology, neither of which was widely adopted elsewhere until many years later.
Parallel to the drive to develop newspaper circulations and advertising sales and to moving the company into profit after its start-up losses of the early years, planning commenced to launch the group — then known as East African Printers and Publishers — on the Nairobi Stock Exchange.
This ambitious decision, was largely driven by the charismatic chairman, former Fleet Street editor Michael Curtis.
It involved, among other things, changing the names of the group company and its subsidiaries to better reflect their activities and geography, developing a unique group logo that to this day remains the Nation group’s readily recognisable emblem, and widely promoting these and the individual businesses of the group and their performance record in order to set the scene for the offering of shares on the Stock Exchange in 1973.
This exercise was a remarkable success with the demand being such that the offer was two and a half times over subscribed and not just by institutional investors but also by many individuals throughout Kenya.
Becoming a publicly quoted company, one not only staffed by Kenyans but largely owned by Kenyans, was a long established objective of the group’s founder, the Aga Khan, and a key part of the strategy in assuring the independence of the Nation.
The Aga Khan honours the longest serving Nation distributor from Kisumu, Mr Abdul Ibrahim and his wife Zarin Daya. Mr Ibrahim has distributed the newspaper from 1960 when the first edition was published. He was awarded as part of the Nation Media Group 50th anniversary Celebration held at the KICC in Nairobi last Friday. Photo/FREDRICK ONYANGO
Tuesday
March 23, 2010
Reflections on the past, challenges for the future
The Aga Khan honours the longest serving Nation distributor from Kisumu, Mr Abdul Ibrahim and his wife Zarin Daya. Mr Ibrahim has distributed the newspaper from 1960 when the first edition was published. He was awarded as part of the Nation Media Group 50th anniversary Celebration held at the KICC in Nairobi last Friday. Photo/FREDRICK ONYANGO
By GERARD WILKINSON
Posted Tuesday, March 23 2010 at 21:00
In Summary
* Nation Media Group Director GERARD WILKINSON, takes us back to early days of the newspaper
I first arrived in Nairobi in July 1971, three weeks after my wife, Anna, and I had married in her home town in Italy. The previous November, living in Ireland and employed at the country’s leading media group, I had spotted an advertisement in the appointments section of the UK’s Sunday Times.
A Kenyan printing and publishing group — as yet unidentified -— was looking for a marketing manager, a position that even in Europe at the time was relatively new. As with my previous employer, I was to be the Nation group’s first marketing manager.
Thus, still in our 20’s, Anna and I set foot in Kenya for the first time, a country which was to be our home for close on eight years — but a country with which I would, as a director of the group, maintain an on-going association for close on forty years.
Kenya, just eight years into independence, was a vibrant country adapting to change. The new managerial post at the Nation involved immediately developing an understanding of readers, their interests and demands and by so doing, seeking to build circulations.
Relevant audiences
At the same time, in view of the key importance of advertising revenues in the funding of the operations, it also entailed understanding advertisers, their needs and demands and delivering to them relevant audiences at competitive advertising rates.
The already established independence and editorial quality of the Daily Nation, Sunday Nation, Taifa Leo and Taifa Weekly, directed initially by people like John Bierman, Jack Beverly, Hilary Ng’weno, Boaz Omori, Joe Rodrigues among others, had given them, after just a decade, a lead over the much older publications in the market.
This was a situation we were able to exploit achieving significant annual increases in sales and market shares, helped by the early introduction of full colour.
At this early point in the company’s history, the Nation newspapers division was very advanced technically, under the charge of two senior printing professionals, Frank Pattrick and Stan Denman.
Start-up losses
It was running one of the very first web-offset daily newspaper printing presses outside North America, as well as pioneering an early system of computerised typesetting. In effect these two advances represented cutting edge newspaper technology, neither of which was widely adopted elsewhere until many years later.
Parallel to the drive to develop newspaper circulations and advertising sales and to moving the company into profit after its start-up losses of the early years, planning commenced to launch the group — then known as East African Printers and Publishers — on the Nairobi Stock Exchange.
This ambitious decision, was largely driven by the charismatic chairman, former Fleet Street editor Michael Curtis.
It involved, among other things, changing the names of the group company and its subsidiaries to better reflect their activities and geography, developing a unique group logo that to this day remains the Nation group’s readily recognisable emblem, and widely promoting these and the individual businesses of the group and their performance record in order to set the scene for the offering of shares on the Stock Exchange in 1973.
This exercise was a remarkable success with the demand being such that the offer was two and a half times over subscribed and not just by institutional investors but also by many individuals throughout Kenya.
Becoming a publicly quoted company, one not only staffed by Kenyans but largely owned by Kenyans, was a long established objective of the group’s founder, the Aga Khan, and a key part of the strategy in assuring the independence of the Nation.
A Most Precious Moment
...occured during the recently held Pan-Africa Media Conference in Nairobi, coinciding with the Nation Media Group's 50th anniversary.
As founder of the group, our beloved Mowla, out of His grace and mercy, accepted an invitation to attend an early morning breakfast function with the employees, distributors and shareholders of NMG. We were very fortunate to also be invited for this function.
From the bottom of my heart, I say that I have rarely seen Mowla so so so happy. His face was so full of smiles. As we say in the English language, it was wreathed in smiles. Mashallah! He looked absolutely beautiful. The line from the ginan by Sayed Mohamed Shah flashed through our minds: "..chot na laage us santanku, so jamadaa rahyaa jakhmaari"
The most precious moment occured when the MC requested beloved Mowla to cut a cake in honour of the fiftieth birthday of NMG. A beautiful white cake laced in blue was presented. All smiles, Mowla cut the cake and then lo and behold, He joined into the singing of the birthday song! Believe it or not, we actually heard Him singing; He was that happy...He has a beautiful singing voice as well
Thereafter, the chairman of NMG requested the gathering to be upstanding in order to TOAST our beloved Mowla for His long life and health... The NMG theme song (True to you) played over the loud speakers and the entire gathering raised their glasses to Mowla. This was truly a precious moment, a moment of pure joy, a moment that we will forever capture in our hearts.
I thought I must share this with all of you because, as evident from the photographs and videos, never before has Mowla looked so radiant and so happy, not even during the entire Golden Jubilee.
It is regretful to note that such previous moments are carried off by people of other communities. They show so much love and respect for our Mowla. I remember, during the Golden Jubilee, I went hoarse requesting our leaders over and over again to please have our Mowla cut a cake to mark such a monumental ocassion. My pleas were just ignored. No cakes were cut, no toasts were made at any of the banquets, and really poor and lame excuses were given to justify this. In 2003, Mowla gave a darbar in Dubai ON HIS BIRTHDAY and no cake was cut! Similarly, the finale of the Golden Jubilee darbars was held in Paris in 2008, just two days prior to Mowla's birthday and no cake was cut. What a pity!
Hats off to NMG for making Mowla so happy, for giving Him so much honour and for rightfully making Him cut a cake. If, as our leaders say that it is déclassé to have cake cutting ceremonies with Mowla, they should think again by revisiting this event and seeing how ecstatic Mowla became when asked to cut the cake.
The MC promised Mowla that this photograph would be part of the montage at NMG's 75th anniversary.
You will be interested to note that beloved Mowla Himself chose which photograph of His should be included in the montage displayed at this conference. He chose the photograph of Himself CUTTING THE CAKE to mark NMG's silver jubilee.
Truly, we miss those days when love overpowered the need to be 'classy and to treat beloved Mowla like one would treat the Queen of England'.
Thank you Mowla for giving us this chance; finally we watched you cutting a cake; it was wonderful to hear You sing and a real blessing to be offered a piece of that very precious cake.
Shukranlillah wal-hamdulillah
As founder of the group, our beloved Mowla, out of His grace and mercy, accepted an invitation to attend an early morning breakfast function with the employees, distributors and shareholders of NMG. We were very fortunate to also be invited for this function.
From the bottom of my heart, I say that I have rarely seen Mowla so so so happy. His face was so full of smiles. As we say in the English language, it was wreathed in smiles. Mashallah! He looked absolutely beautiful. The line from the ginan by Sayed Mohamed Shah flashed through our minds: "..chot na laage us santanku, so jamadaa rahyaa jakhmaari"
The most precious moment occured when the MC requested beloved Mowla to cut a cake in honour of the fiftieth birthday of NMG. A beautiful white cake laced in blue was presented. All smiles, Mowla cut the cake and then lo and behold, He joined into the singing of the birthday song! Believe it or not, we actually heard Him singing; He was that happy...He has a beautiful singing voice as well
Thereafter, the chairman of NMG requested the gathering to be upstanding in order to TOAST our beloved Mowla for His long life and health... The NMG theme song (True to you) played over the loud speakers and the entire gathering raised their glasses to Mowla. This was truly a precious moment, a moment of pure joy, a moment that we will forever capture in our hearts.
I thought I must share this with all of you because, as evident from the photographs and videos, never before has Mowla looked so radiant and so happy, not even during the entire Golden Jubilee.
It is regretful to note that such previous moments are carried off by people of other communities. They show so much love and respect for our Mowla. I remember, during the Golden Jubilee, I went hoarse requesting our leaders over and over again to please have our Mowla cut a cake to mark such a monumental ocassion. My pleas were just ignored. No cakes were cut, no toasts were made at any of the banquets, and really poor and lame excuses were given to justify this. In 2003, Mowla gave a darbar in Dubai ON HIS BIRTHDAY and no cake was cut! Similarly, the finale of the Golden Jubilee darbars was held in Paris in 2008, just two days prior to Mowla's birthday and no cake was cut. What a pity!
Hats off to NMG for making Mowla so happy, for giving Him so much honour and for rightfully making Him cut a cake. If, as our leaders say that it is déclassé to have cake cutting ceremonies with Mowla, they should think again by revisiting this event and seeing how ecstatic Mowla became when asked to cut the cake.
The MC promised Mowla that this photograph would be part of the montage at NMG's 75th anniversary.
You will be interested to note that beloved Mowla Himself chose which photograph of His should be included in the montage displayed at this conference. He chose the photograph of Himself CUTTING THE CAKE to mark NMG's silver jubilee.
Truly, we miss those days when love overpowered the need to be 'classy and to treat beloved Mowla like one would treat the Queen of England'.
Thank you Mowla for giving us this chance; finally we watched you cutting a cake; it was wonderful to hear You sing and a real blessing to be offered a piece of that very precious cake.
Shukranlillah wal-hamdulillah
-
maheroonPradhan
- Posts: 75
- Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2005 2:54 pm
Tons of photos here!
http://www.ismaili.net/heritage/node/26461
VIDEO: http://ismaili.net/timeline/2010/2010-0 ... aculty.mp4
http://www.ismaili.net/heritage/node/26461
VIDEO: http://ismaili.net/timeline/2010/2010-0 ... aculty.mp4
Last edited by Admin on Sun Jun 17, 2018 12:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
A fast tour back through 50 years
Posted Saturday, June 5 2010 at 13:06
The history of The Nation is the history of the nation. You can see this in the photographs now on show at the RaMoMa room at Rahimtulla Tower, an exhibition, A Piece of History; you can read it in the new book by Gerry Loughran, The Birth of a Nation: the Story of a Newspaper in Kenya. Both the exhibition and the book are celebrating the newspaper’s 50th anniversary.
The Nation was a most apt title for the paper founded by the Aga Khan and launched back in 1960. When the young leader of the Ismailis first put the idea of starting a newspaper in Kenya to Michael Curtis, once editor of the News Chronicle in England, Curtis was tempted but said that he could not be involved in a paper for the Ismaili community.
‘‘No, no, that’s the last thing I want,’’ the Aga Khan said. ‘‘I want a completely independent paper.’’
And Curtis, who would become the Nation’s first chief executive, went on to say that he was quickly convinced that what the Aga Khan wanted was a newspaper to give voice to Kenya’s nationalists who, in those few years before independence, were not being heard in the political debate.
And that is the constant dilemma for those running a newspaper in a country like Kenya, or anywhere for that matter: how to give voice to people you wish to support, and at the same time remain truly independent – and non-partisan.
It is not, of course, a dilemma that is apparent in the display of photographs at Rahimtullah Tower. It makes for a fast and fascinating tour back through 50 years – a pictorial record of a country’s pleasures and pains, moments of happiness and times of tragedy.
There’s a relaxed picture of Mzee and the Aga Khan sharing smiles – Kenyatta in his favourite leather jacket and the Aga Khan in a businesslike suit and tie.
There’s the tense photograph of Thomas, Lord Delamere, leading Kenyatta into the 1963 pivotal meeting with white settlers in Nakuru.
And there’s the amazing photograph taken by the young Mohamed Amin – when, on the Saturday, July 5, 1969, Tom Mboya was gunned down in a Nairobi street, and Pamela, his wife, and fellow Luos were collapsing in paroxysms of grief.
The record moves on – showing terrified Kenyans holding up ID cards after the 1982 failed coup attempt; people scrabbling through the wreckage of the bombed American Embassy in 1998; and a distraught woman outside the Kiamba church where 30 people were burnt to death in 2008.
All these photographs are also in Gerry Loughran’s book. But there is also Gerry’s own commentary (from the inside, as he was at The Nation in a senior editorial position for 12 years) and his collection of memories and opinions of old colleagues such as fellow Europeans Gerry Wilkinson and Robbie Armstrong – and Kenyan senior editors such as Joe Kadhi, Philip Ochieng, Wangethi Mwangi and Tom Mshindi.
Gerry tells how the very first issue of The Nation on Sunday, March 20, 1960, carried a cartoon on the editorial page that showed Kenya’s black and white leaders gathered around a new-born baby in a pram marked Nation.
One of them was saying, ‘‘He’s a cute little fellow, but will he behave?’’ It was a cogent caption, Gerry remarks, considering the many painful conflicts that lay ahead between the paper and politicians.
Throughout the book (from the time in the early days when President Kenyatta embarrassed the Aga Khan by asking him if he could install his nephew, Ngengi Muigai, as chairman of the holding company, Nation Printers and Publishers Ltd, to the months after the botched elections of 2007 when The Nation was often accused of favouring the PNU) Gerry tells of the ‘‘many painful conflicts’’ between the paper and the politicians. He tells it with the kind of wit we now enjoy in his Sunday Nation column, Letter from London.
Pity the book costs over Sh4,000. But if you have some money to spare, you also might like to join in the auction of the A Piece of History photographs. You can make your bids online at www.nationmedia.com.
John Fox is Managing Director of IntermediaNCG; [email protected]
http://www.nation.co.ke/magazines/lifes ... index.html
Posted Saturday, June 5 2010 at 13:06
The history of The Nation is the history of the nation. You can see this in the photographs now on show at the RaMoMa room at Rahimtulla Tower, an exhibition, A Piece of History; you can read it in the new book by Gerry Loughran, The Birth of a Nation: the Story of a Newspaper in Kenya. Both the exhibition and the book are celebrating the newspaper’s 50th anniversary.
The Nation was a most apt title for the paper founded by the Aga Khan and launched back in 1960. When the young leader of the Ismailis first put the idea of starting a newspaper in Kenya to Michael Curtis, once editor of the News Chronicle in England, Curtis was tempted but said that he could not be involved in a paper for the Ismaili community.
‘‘No, no, that’s the last thing I want,’’ the Aga Khan said. ‘‘I want a completely independent paper.’’
And Curtis, who would become the Nation’s first chief executive, went on to say that he was quickly convinced that what the Aga Khan wanted was a newspaper to give voice to Kenya’s nationalists who, in those few years before independence, were not being heard in the political debate.
And that is the constant dilemma for those running a newspaper in a country like Kenya, or anywhere for that matter: how to give voice to people you wish to support, and at the same time remain truly independent – and non-partisan.
It is not, of course, a dilemma that is apparent in the display of photographs at Rahimtullah Tower. It makes for a fast and fascinating tour back through 50 years – a pictorial record of a country’s pleasures and pains, moments of happiness and times of tragedy.
There’s a relaxed picture of Mzee and the Aga Khan sharing smiles – Kenyatta in his favourite leather jacket and the Aga Khan in a businesslike suit and tie.
There’s the tense photograph of Thomas, Lord Delamere, leading Kenyatta into the 1963 pivotal meeting with white settlers in Nakuru.
And there’s the amazing photograph taken by the young Mohamed Amin – when, on the Saturday, July 5, 1969, Tom Mboya was gunned down in a Nairobi street, and Pamela, his wife, and fellow Luos were collapsing in paroxysms of grief.
The record moves on – showing terrified Kenyans holding up ID cards after the 1982 failed coup attempt; people scrabbling through the wreckage of the bombed American Embassy in 1998; and a distraught woman outside the Kiamba church where 30 people were burnt to death in 2008.
All these photographs are also in Gerry Loughran’s book. But there is also Gerry’s own commentary (from the inside, as he was at The Nation in a senior editorial position for 12 years) and his collection of memories and opinions of old colleagues such as fellow Europeans Gerry Wilkinson and Robbie Armstrong – and Kenyan senior editors such as Joe Kadhi, Philip Ochieng, Wangethi Mwangi and Tom Mshindi.
Gerry tells how the very first issue of The Nation on Sunday, March 20, 1960, carried a cartoon on the editorial page that showed Kenya’s black and white leaders gathered around a new-born baby in a pram marked Nation.
One of them was saying, ‘‘He’s a cute little fellow, but will he behave?’’ It was a cogent caption, Gerry remarks, considering the many painful conflicts that lay ahead between the paper and politicians.
Throughout the book (from the time in the early days when President Kenyatta embarrassed the Aga Khan by asking him if he could install his nephew, Ngengi Muigai, as chairman of the holding company, Nation Printers and Publishers Ltd, to the months after the botched elections of 2007 when The Nation was often accused of favouring the PNU) Gerry tells of the ‘‘many painful conflicts’’ between the paper and the politicians. He tells it with the kind of wit we now enjoy in his Sunday Nation column, Letter from London.
Pity the book costs over Sh4,000. But if you have some money to spare, you also might like to join in the auction of the A Piece of History photographs. You can make your bids online at www.nationmedia.com.
John Fox is Managing Director of IntermediaNCG; [email protected]
http://www.nation.co.ke/magazines/lifes ... index.html
Kenya: Mogul Who Would Have Changed Nation's Media
Murithi Mutiga
23 July 2011
opinion
Nairobi — A year after launching the Nation in 1959, His Highness the Aga Khan was finding the new venture a little more financially demanding than he had imagined it would be.
The young paper, pitched at the emerging audience of Africans entering the job market, was yet to attract a readership that could help it settle the bills.
The demands for more money from the editors in Nairobi were unremitting and self-sufficiency was perhaps a decade or more away.
The young proprietor needed an investor to share the financial burden. The Aga Khan also felt, Nation veteran Gerry Loughran writes in his history of the paper, that a new investor would add gravitas to the paper especially if he came from an established global media house.
Not too many investors in establishments such as the Christian Science Monitor, the Washington Post and the Observer were interested.
But one thrusting, ambitious 29-year-old media baron in the making was enthusiastic.
Fascinated by plans
"Fascinated by your plans," Rupert Murdoch cabled from Australia, "would like to hear more."
Nothing further came of that offer but it is fair to say the history of the Kenyan media would have been very different if the Australian's bid to partner with the Aga Khan in the Nation had succeeded.
"Kenyans should thank their lucky stars Murdoch never got into the media in Nairobi!" says Mr Loughran, whose book, Birth of the Nation, is considered one of the most authoritative published accounts of Kenyan media history.
Mr Murdoch has been in the news in the last fortnight as the phone hacking controversy engulfing his media empire in Britain has snowballed into a full-blown political scandal.
Journalists working at Mr Murdoch's tabloids are accused of using dubious techniques such as bribing Scotland Yard detectives to land stories on the saucy scandals that have won them a wide readership.
They are also said to have hacked the mobile phones of hundreds of footballers, actors and members of the royal family in their quest for scoops.
In one notorious incident, a source employed by the News of the World Sunday paper was found to have deleted the voice mail messages of the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler in order to create room for more voice messages, an action said to have given hope to the parents that their daughter was alive.
The scandal bears all the imprints of journalism in Murdoch's papers. It was borne out of the familiar effort to get exclusives on the sex lives of celebrities or to tease out details on stories that had caught the attention of the public such as gruesome murders.
What would have been if Mr Murdoch had succeeded in entering the Kenyan media market? "At the time that Murdoch expressed an interest in the brand-new Nation Group in 1960, he was in a voraciously acquisitive mood, buying, merging and starting newspapers in Australia and New Zealand, before, later in the decade, turning his attention to Britain and the United States.
His interest in the Nation Media Group would almost certainly have been to purchase and control, when all that the Nation founder was seeking were supportive editorial and financial links. It would have been a hopelessly bad fit and unsurprisingly it never happened."
Mr Murdoch and the Aga Khan were polar opposites in their views on what the role of a newspaper should be in society. Pursuing an ideal of quality journalism, the Aga Khan turned the Nation into East Africa's leading newspaper.
The publishing company's shares were later sold at the Nairobi Stock Exchange while the principal stake in the Nation Media Group was acquired by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED).
Mr Murdoch wanted a popular newspaper with plenty of gossip and big photos, preferably of the female variety.
The Aga Khan constantly wrote to his editors, some of whom had come from British tabloids, asking them to reduce the number of photos of actresses they carried in the entertainment pages and urging them to go with smaller font in headlines.
Sales are king
Mr Murdoch, by contrast, barely conceals his disdain for "serious" journalism involving detailed investigations and long stories. For him, sales are king.
"I'm rather sick of snobs who tell (me my tabloids) are bad papers, snobs who only read papers that no-one else wants ... Much of what passes for quality (in the British media) is no more than a reflection of the narrow elite which controls it and has always thought that its tastes were synonymous with quality."
The Aga Khan in the early years took a different view, seeing the Nation as the paper that could play a role in the nationalism project by giving a voice to the leaders of the Kenyan liberation movement who were banned from the other settler-dominated papers.
Mr Loughran says the union between the Aga Khan and Mr Murdoch would have been an unhappy one. "There is little reason to think his editorial philosophy - blanket coverage of celebrities, television, scandals, politicos in trouble, sex, big photos, sex, bigger headlines, more sex - would have changed."
To get a glimpse of what life in the Nation would have been under Murdoch's leadership or indeed how he would have reshaped the Kenyan media one could examine the experience of the two British tycoons who succeeded in buying into Kenyan papers.
The Czech-born magnate Robert Maxwell bought a stake in the Kenya Times in the 1980s while Lonrho chief Tiny Rowland purchased The Standard in 1967.
Editors that have worked under them paint contrasting pictures of life under those proprietors. John Agunda, now training editor of the Nation, says Mr Maxwell's tenure as a co-owner of the paper with the Moi government had some positive effects.
"Mr Maxwell had been quite successful in the UK with the Mirror newspapers and he brought along several editors from there. They also brought a lot of the equipment that they were discarding as part of a modernisation programme there.
"Most of that equipment was quite advanced by Kenyan standards and they brought a printing press for example, that introduced the first colour pages in Kenyan newspapers."
Mr Agunda says the paper's editor, Ted Graham, brought a tabloid sensibility that meant that features would start on page one with a strong emphasis on human interest.
That move forced the Nation to react by getting their own printing press that could print in colour. It also led to the launch of magazines such as the Sunday Nation's Lifestyle to counter the human interest focus of Kenya Times.
Mr Graham did not last too long as the owners of the paper, most notably Mr Moi, were distinctly unimpressed with his style. The tabloid approach also drew murmurs of disapproval from the conservative Kenyan ownership and some readers.
The management decided to bring in Philip Ochieng from the Nation to replace Mr Graham in a move that was viewed as a coup for Kenya Times.
Mr Rowland's proprietorship of The Standard was more controversial. As Mr Loughran reports in the Birth of a Nation, Mr Rowland seemed to have been primarily driven by a desire to entrench his business interests.
President Kenyatta had been opposed to the entry of Mr Rowland into the scene because his Lonrho group had made its fortune in white-ruled Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe).
Paper is yours
According to one employee, Eric Marsden, Mr Rowland offered Mr Kenyatta a bargain involving total editorial control: "The paper is yours to do what you like with, just say the word."
The Kenyattas' hold on The Standard was assured when his relative, Udi Gecaga, was appointed chairman of Lonrho East Africa.Mr Gecaga was swiftly dropped after Mr Kenyatta's death and the era of Moi dominance at the paper began.
One of the managing editors at the paper during those years, Kwendo Opanga, offers this nugget on the influence figures close to Mr Moi and the Lonrho establishment wielded.
"There was a day when President Moi was opening the Castle Brewing factory in Thika. It happened that on that same day, the Kenya National Examinations Council was releasing Form Four examination results.
As editors we, of course, made up our minds that the main story in the next day's papers would be the results. At about 6 p.m. we were good to go when a call came in from Mark Too (a close Moi confidante and then head of Lonrho) to the group managing editor Wachira Waruru."
Mr Too told Mr Waruru that the next day's splash would have to be the story from Thika, where the President had taken a swipe at this newspaper.
He had a suggested headline: "Moi tells off the Nation." The senior editors strenuously objected and, eventually, with Mr Too adamant, they agreed to have the story on page one together with the examination story.
Mr Loughran says it is unlikely that Mr Murdoch would have been similarly keen to enter the political fray.
A newspaperman
"He is first and last a newspaperman. During the current furore in London much has been said about Murdoch's cosiness with government leaders at the highest level.
"One unnamed source ventured that when the subject was brought to Murdoch's attention, however, he snapped irritably that he sometimes wished prime ministers would leave him alone."
It is perhaps for the better that Mr Murdoch never found his way to Kenya. If his record elsewhere is any guide, though, it is fair to say there would barely have been a dull moment if he had turned up in these shores and successfully launched a media house.
http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/ ... 60035.html
Murithi Mutiga
23 July 2011
opinion
Nairobi — A year after launching the Nation in 1959, His Highness the Aga Khan was finding the new venture a little more financially demanding than he had imagined it would be.
The young paper, pitched at the emerging audience of Africans entering the job market, was yet to attract a readership that could help it settle the bills.
The demands for more money from the editors in Nairobi were unremitting and self-sufficiency was perhaps a decade or more away.
The young proprietor needed an investor to share the financial burden. The Aga Khan also felt, Nation veteran Gerry Loughran writes in his history of the paper, that a new investor would add gravitas to the paper especially if he came from an established global media house.
Not too many investors in establishments such as the Christian Science Monitor, the Washington Post and the Observer were interested.
But one thrusting, ambitious 29-year-old media baron in the making was enthusiastic.
Fascinated by plans
"Fascinated by your plans," Rupert Murdoch cabled from Australia, "would like to hear more."
Nothing further came of that offer but it is fair to say the history of the Kenyan media would have been very different if the Australian's bid to partner with the Aga Khan in the Nation had succeeded.
"Kenyans should thank their lucky stars Murdoch never got into the media in Nairobi!" says Mr Loughran, whose book, Birth of the Nation, is considered one of the most authoritative published accounts of Kenyan media history.
Mr Murdoch has been in the news in the last fortnight as the phone hacking controversy engulfing his media empire in Britain has snowballed into a full-blown political scandal.
Journalists working at Mr Murdoch's tabloids are accused of using dubious techniques such as bribing Scotland Yard detectives to land stories on the saucy scandals that have won them a wide readership.
They are also said to have hacked the mobile phones of hundreds of footballers, actors and members of the royal family in their quest for scoops.
In one notorious incident, a source employed by the News of the World Sunday paper was found to have deleted the voice mail messages of the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler in order to create room for more voice messages, an action said to have given hope to the parents that their daughter was alive.
The scandal bears all the imprints of journalism in Murdoch's papers. It was borne out of the familiar effort to get exclusives on the sex lives of celebrities or to tease out details on stories that had caught the attention of the public such as gruesome murders.
What would have been if Mr Murdoch had succeeded in entering the Kenyan media market? "At the time that Murdoch expressed an interest in the brand-new Nation Group in 1960, he was in a voraciously acquisitive mood, buying, merging and starting newspapers in Australia and New Zealand, before, later in the decade, turning his attention to Britain and the United States.
His interest in the Nation Media Group would almost certainly have been to purchase and control, when all that the Nation founder was seeking were supportive editorial and financial links. It would have been a hopelessly bad fit and unsurprisingly it never happened."
Mr Murdoch and the Aga Khan were polar opposites in their views on what the role of a newspaper should be in society. Pursuing an ideal of quality journalism, the Aga Khan turned the Nation into East Africa's leading newspaper.
The publishing company's shares were later sold at the Nairobi Stock Exchange while the principal stake in the Nation Media Group was acquired by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED).
Mr Murdoch wanted a popular newspaper with plenty of gossip and big photos, preferably of the female variety.
The Aga Khan constantly wrote to his editors, some of whom had come from British tabloids, asking them to reduce the number of photos of actresses they carried in the entertainment pages and urging them to go with smaller font in headlines.
Sales are king
Mr Murdoch, by contrast, barely conceals his disdain for "serious" journalism involving detailed investigations and long stories. For him, sales are king.
"I'm rather sick of snobs who tell (me my tabloids) are bad papers, snobs who only read papers that no-one else wants ... Much of what passes for quality (in the British media) is no more than a reflection of the narrow elite which controls it and has always thought that its tastes were synonymous with quality."
The Aga Khan in the early years took a different view, seeing the Nation as the paper that could play a role in the nationalism project by giving a voice to the leaders of the Kenyan liberation movement who were banned from the other settler-dominated papers.
Mr Loughran says the union between the Aga Khan and Mr Murdoch would have been an unhappy one. "There is little reason to think his editorial philosophy - blanket coverage of celebrities, television, scandals, politicos in trouble, sex, big photos, sex, bigger headlines, more sex - would have changed."
To get a glimpse of what life in the Nation would have been under Murdoch's leadership or indeed how he would have reshaped the Kenyan media one could examine the experience of the two British tycoons who succeeded in buying into Kenyan papers.
The Czech-born magnate Robert Maxwell bought a stake in the Kenya Times in the 1980s while Lonrho chief Tiny Rowland purchased The Standard in 1967.
Editors that have worked under them paint contrasting pictures of life under those proprietors. John Agunda, now training editor of the Nation, says Mr Maxwell's tenure as a co-owner of the paper with the Moi government had some positive effects.
"Mr Maxwell had been quite successful in the UK with the Mirror newspapers and he brought along several editors from there. They also brought a lot of the equipment that they were discarding as part of a modernisation programme there.
"Most of that equipment was quite advanced by Kenyan standards and they brought a printing press for example, that introduced the first colour pages in Kenyan newspapers."
Mr Agunda says the paper's editor, Ted Graham, brought a tabloid sensibility that meant that features would start on page one with a strong emphasis on human interest.
That move forced the Nation to react by getting their own printing press that could print in colour. It also led to the launch of magazines such as the Sunday Nation's Lifestyle to counter the human interest focus of Kenya Times.
Mr Graham did not last too long as the owners of the paper, most notably Mr Moi, were distinctly unimpressed with his style. The tabloid approach also drew murmurs of disapproval from the conservative Kenyan ownership and some readers.
The management decided to bring in Philip Ochieng from the Nation to replace Mr Graham in a move that was viewed as a coup for Kenya Times.
Mr Rowland's proprietorship of The Standard was more controversial. As Mr Loughran reports in the Birth of a Nation, Mr Rowland seemed to have been primarily driven by a desire to entrench his business interests.
President Kenyatta had been opposed to the entry of Mr Rowland into the scene because his Lonrho group had made its fortune in white-ruled Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe).
Paper is yours
According to one employee, Eric Marsden, Mr Rowland offered Mr Kenyatta a bargain involving total editorial control: "The paper is yours to do what you like with, just say the word."
The Kenyattas' hold on The Standard was assured when his relative, Udi Gecaga, was appointed chairman of Lonrho East Africa.Mr Gecaga was swiftly dropped after Mr Kenyatta's death and the era of Moi dominance at the paper began.
One of the managing editors at the paper during those years, Kwendo Opanga, offers this nugget on the influence figures close to Mr Moi and the Lonrho establishment wielded.
"There was a day when President Moi was opening the Castle Brewing factory in Thika. It happened that on that same day, the Kenya National Examinations Council was releasing Form Four examination results.
As editors we, of course, made up our minds that the main story in the next day's papers would be the results. At about 6 p.m. we were good to go when a call came in from Mark Too (a close Moi confidante and then head of Lonrho) to the group managing editor Wachira Waruru."
Mr Too told Mr Waruru that the next day's splash would have to be the story from Thika, where the President had taken a swipe at this newspaper.
He had a suggested headline: "Moi tells off the Nation." The senior editors strenuously objected and, eventually, with Mr Too adamant, they agreed to have the story on page one together with the examination story.
Mr Loughran says it is unlikely that Mr Murdoch would have been similarly keen to enter the political fray.
A newspaperman
"He is first and last a newspaperman. During the current furore in London much has been said about Murdoch's cosiness with government leaders at the highest level.
"One unnamed source ventured that when the subject was brought to Murdoch's attention, however, he snapped irritably that he sometimes wished prime ministers would leave him alone."
It is perhaps for the better that Mr Murdoch never found his way to Kenya. If his record elsewhere is any guide, though, it is fair to say there would barely have been a dull moment if he had turned up in these shores and successfully launched a media house.
http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/ ... 60035.html
Kenya’s top five media moguls
Excerpt:
The Aga Khan
Founder: Nation Media Group
Though the Nation Media Group (NMG) is majority-owned by public shareholders, the group was founded by ‘His Highness’ the Aga Khan in 1960, who started Kenya’s Taifa and Nation newspapers to provide independent voices during the years preceding the country’s independence. He became Imam (spiritual leader) of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims in 1957 at the age of 20, succeeding his grandfather. The Aga Khan’s association with the NMG was institutionalised in 2003, and his shares transferred to the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED), making it the group’s largest shareholder.
NMG is the biggest media house in east Africa and has expanded its operations into Uganda and Tanzania and is one of the largest companies on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE). The group publishes the Nation and Taifa newspapers and the regional weekly The East African. The group also runs NTV, QTV, QFM and Easy FM radio in Kenya, and NTV and KFM radio in Uganda.
The Aga Khan has spoken about his early days in the media industry, noting that at the time newly independent governments had to work with media, which had no African antecedents, even as both political leaders and journalists wrestled with massive debates about capitalism, communism and non-alignment.
“It was against this backdrop that I decided to create the first east African media group. I was 24, and had no background – whatsoever – in the media field. In Swahili I was kutia mkono gizani, or as we say in English, ‘the blind leading the blind’,” said the Aga Khan at a conference marking the 50th anniversary of the NMG. “What did we hope and predict for the group 50 years ago? We certainly aspired for its transformation from a loss-making infant enterprise to a profitable blue chip corporation, and then its transformation from a private venture into a public company.”
http://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/keny ... fullpost=1
Excerpt:
The Aga Khan
Founder: Nation Media Group
Though the Nation Media Group (NMG) is majority-owned by public shareholders, the group was founded by ‘His Highness’ the Aga Khan in 1960, who started Kenya’s Taifa and Nation newspapers to provide independent voices during the years preceding the country’s independence. He became Imam (spiritual leader) of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims in 1957 at the age of 20, succeeding his grandfather. The Aga Khan’s association with the NMG was institutionalised in 2003, and his shares transferred to the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED), making it the group’s largest shareholder.
NMG is the biggest media house in east Africa and has expanded its operations into Uganda and Tanzania and is one of the largest companies on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE). The group publishes the Nation and Taifa newspapers and the regional weekly The East African. The group also runs NTV, QTV, QFM and Easy FM radio in Kenya, and NTV and KFM radio in Uganda.
The Aga Khan has spoken about his early days in the media industry, noting that at the time newly independent governments had to work with media, which had no African antecedents, even as both political leaders and journalists wrestled with massive debates about capitalism, communism and non-alignment.
“It was against this backdrop that I decided to create the first east African media group. I was 24, and had no background – whatsoever – in the media field. In Swahili I was kutia mkono gizani, or as we say in English, ‘the blind leading the blind’,” said the Aga Khan at a conference marking the 50th anniversary of the NMG. “What did we hope and predict for the group 50 years ago? We certainly aspired for its transformation from a loss-making infant enterprise to a profitable blue chip corporation, and then its transformation from a private venture into a public company.”
http://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/keny ... fullpost=1
There is a related thread:
News on and about Nation Media
http://www.ismaili.net/html/modules.php ... 6432#56432
News on and about Nation Media
http://www.ismaili.net/html/modules.php ... 6432#56432
https://www.africaintelligence.fr/LOI/a ... 179405-ART
Rumours from a serious News source about the possible exit of the Aga Khan from the Nation Media Group.
Affaires & réseaux
N°1433 DU 02/09/2016
L'Aga Khan en passe de se débarrasser du Nation Media Group ?
Nation Media Group (NMG) est en train de devenir une véritable épine dans le pied de son propriétaire, la fondation [...]
Rumours from a serious News source about the possible exit of the Aga Khan from the Nation Media Group.
Affaires & réseaux
N°1433 DU 02/09/2016
L'Aga Khan en passe de se débarrasser du Nation Media Group ?
Nation Media Group (NMG) est en train de devenir une véritable épine dans le pied de son propriétaire, la fondation [...]