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Print Media in Kenya

In Kenya, the print media audience is generally smaller than radio and TV audiences. Thirty-seven percent of respondents said they had not read a newspaper within the last year; when they were asked why, many cited cost or the inability to read or understand newspapers. About one quarter of nonreaders said that they were simply not interested in getting news and information from print media.

Although newspapers are much less frequent sources of news and information on a national scale than radio and television, they are fairly widely read in the major urban centers (Chart1):

Chart 1
         

A basic profile of those who had read a newspaper during the week before the survey reveals an audience that does not mirror the population as whole: weekly newspaper readers were 64 percent male, 51 percent urban, 79 percent “middle income” and 99 percent with some form of formal education (83 percent with some secondary school or more).[1]

The ranking of top newspapers, derived from the number of mentions of each paper in an open-ended survey question, place the Daily Nation, the East Africa Standard and the Taifa Leo at the top. There was little demographic differentiation, with the same top choices showing up among men and women, urban and rural residents, and all age groups. Readership rates were different across regions, however, and in two regions the Taifo Leo was actually more widely read than was the East Africa Standard (Chart 1).

Chart 2
          

Chart 3
                  

The reported levels of trust in the information provided by print media were somewhat lower than reported trust in radio and television (Charts 3 and 4). However, these levels were not drawn from directly comparable subsamples (Each measure includes only that medium’s own audience).

Chart 4
                 

[1] Characterize their household standard of living as, “We have enough money for food and clothes and can save a bit, but not enough to buy expensive goods such as a TV set or a refrigerator” or “We can afford to buy certain expensive goods such as a TV set or a refrigerator.”