When newspapers are so popular you can rent them

Just before we write off print here is a tale from Kenya

Each newspaper in Kenya is typically read by fourteen people, and those who can’t afford to buy a paper sometimes “rent” one. My neighborhood news vendor charges the equivalent of thirteen cents for thirty minutes with one of the major dailies, all of which are in English. That compares with fifty cents to buy one, a significant sum even to office workers earning $20 a day, and out of reach for the far more numerous casual workers who generally earn no more than $2.

Via Columbia Journalism review

Role of the media in Kenya's post election violence

Via Richard Sambrook who alerts the world to a report comissioned by BBC World service looking at whether the media were to blame for the recnt violence in Kenya following the elections at the end of last year.

It follows comments by the Kenyan information minister who at the time said

The violence after the announcement of the polls was due to the polarity in the media, especially vernacular media which were turned into political tools.”

However the report concludes that

the crisis demonstrates that a free and plural media are as much an answer to Kenya's democratic deficit as they are a problem.

In particular,the

role of the local language media during the crisis was the product of a chaotic regulatory policy and the lack of training - especially of talk show hosts, whose programmes provided the platform for most of the hate speech.

and

local language radio played a role in calming tensions as well as inflaming them, and could be a powerful mechanism for reconciliation.

Blogging in Kenya

Over at media shift,Sokari Ekine is guest blogging this week.One of the topics being covered is the evolution of blogging in Africa.

This piece looks at the coverage of the violence in Kenya over the new year

The only way to get any up-to-date news for the past 24-48 hours has been through the blogosphere (like Kenyan Pundit, Thinkers Room, Mentalacrobatics) Skype and Kenyan populated forums (like Mashada). The traditional media has been shut out and shut down for all intents and purposes.
Within days, the online community and blog aggregator, Mashada had set up a SMS and voice main hotline calling for people to send in local news and opinions on what was happening. This was followed by Ory Okolloha (Kenyan Pundit) who suggested using Google Earth to create a mashup of where the violence was taking place:

Blogging the latest from Kenya

Yesterday, one of the keenest observers of Africa, Ethan Zuckerman, posted an intriguing analysis of the media coverage of the current election-related violence in Kenya. If you're covering this unfolding crisis, Kenya: heartbreak and hope is worth a read -- especially if (like most westerners) you only tend to notice Africa when it erupts into bloodshed

says Poynter Online

Check out the link a it gives a good insight into Kenyan bloggers