PAN-AFRICA MEDIA CONFERENCE 2010 & NATION MEDIA GROUP

Activities of the Imam and the Noorani family.
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Exclusive photos of the Conference

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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
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Post by kmaherali »

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
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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.
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Post by kmaherali »

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
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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.
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http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Reflection ... 15lxh9n/-/

Image

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.
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A Most Precious Moment

Post by Indigo »

...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
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MHI Cutting Cake

Post by maheroonPradhan »

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Post by kmaherali »

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; fox@africaonline.co.ke

http://www.nation.co.ke/magazines/lifes ... index.html
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Post by kmaherali »

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
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Post by kmaherali »

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.”

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Post by kmaherali »

There is a related thread:

News on and about Nation Media
http://www.ismaili.net/html/modules.php ... 6432#56432
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Post by Admin »

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 [...]
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https://allafrica.com/stories/201906240030.html


23 June 2019
The Nation (Nairobi)

Kenya: Nation Media Group Celebrates 60 Years of Quality Journalism

By Collins Omulo

Nation Media Group staff celebrated its 60 years in the business in the 'wild west' fashion at Stima Club in Nairobi on Saturday.

Employees from all over the country attended the function themed "True and Timeless", where the call to remain independent, true and steadfast in service delivery was emphasised.

Chief Executive Officer Stephen Gitagama said NMG has remained true and dedicated through quality reporting and delivery of the best, timely, authentic, independent, fair and balanced journalism.

"We remain trusted, true and independent yesterday, today and tomorrow. That is what we stand for," he noted.

"I would really like all of us, at any time, on any day and at whichever place, to remember that we remain true and timeless."

POWERHOUSE

Mr Gitagama said high value and unique content have seen the media group achieve tremendous growth, from its flagship project - Taifa Leo - to a regional powerhouse and the largest media house in East and Central Africa.

Under the tagline "The Media of Africa for Africa", NMG was established in 1959 by His Highness The Aga Khan as a platform for indigenous African voices to be heard and for authentic stories to be told from the Kenyan perspective.

"From Taifa Leo, we have grown to become a multimedia organisation. The Aga Khan was 25 years old when he established the organisation," the chief executive said.

NMG has since grown in leaps and bounds to have presence not only in Kenya but also in Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.

It has also launched innovative products such as Pishi, Africa's premier website for all food and cooking content, and Lit360, through which local music talent across broadcasting, print and digital platforms is promoted.

INNOVATION

Mr Gitagama challenged the youth to emulate The Aga Khan by making contributions that will be remembered for years to come.

"Most of you are above 25 years old. Ask yourself, 'what have done that will be remembered 60 years down the line?'," he said.

"When you are young and able, try to do something that you can remember and that can be remembered."
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