Media Will Resist State Interference, Says Kiboro

Exclusive exposure of high level scandals by the Nation Media Group (NMG) has steered the company into the billionaire's club but its power to reveal matters of public concern is still under threat, group chief executive officer Wilfred Kiboro said last week.

Addressing shareholders during the company's 43rd annual general meeting, Mr Kiboro said Kenya has come a long way in embracing press freedom and creating a well informed society, but the proposed Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Bill was an attempt by the government to interfere with media independence, curtail the right to free flow of information, and reduce investment in the media.

NMG chairman Hannington Awori supported efforts to fight the proposed Bill saying the media would pursue all avenues, including diplomatic ones, to ensure that controversial sections of the Bill were removed.

Mr Kiboro paid tribute to NMG's coverage of last November's referendum and the Anglo-Leasing and Goldenberg scandals, which he said have so far remained the boldest steps ever taken by the media in exposing high-level corruption.

The company's regional strategy is finally paying off, said Mr Kiboro, as exemplified by East African Magazines (EAM), a joint venture between NMG and Media 24 of South Africa.

In the one year that EAM has been publishing, its magazines - True Love and Drum - have become market leaders.

In Tanzania, Mwananchi Communications has more than doubled its income and reduced operating costs. Mwananchi Communications publishes Mwananchi, Mwananchi Jumapili, The Citizen, Sunday Citizen andMwanaspoti.

In Uganda, the investment put into redesigning both the daily Monitor and Sunday Monitor paid off as the two are responding positively to the market.

As NMG moves to consolidate its leadership of the media industry in East and Central Africa, Mr Kiboro said its newest business pull-outs, Smart Company and Money, which are offered as free inserts with the Tuesday and Thursday dailies respectively, have been well received by the business community, creating the need for a daily business paper, which the group is researching and will soon launch.

In 2005, the group made a pre-tax profit of Ksh1.2 billion ($16.2 million) compared with Ksh895 million ($12.1 million) in 2004, a 14 per cent increase.

Mr Kiboro said that, going by the good performance achieved for the first quarter of 2006, the group was again looking at a better performance in the coming financial year.