In the headlines

Meria

Meria

Elder Lister
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@Pamba 1, I used to be 'an insider' and I am more inclined to agree with Mwarimo's comment just below yours. Saying 'politics sells' is the same as saying 'ugali sells' in a restaurant that only serves ugali - it is a contradiction of fact.

To be fair, this is a conversation we had in the newsroom as far back 35 years ago and it continues to this day,. The faction that stood by the argument that 'politics sells' won the day, and is apparently still winning, unfortunately.

But I think the faction that said that politics DOESN'T sell was right all along.

Since around 2005, newspapers sales have been falling. You could attribute this to the emergence of social media, but I also think the shallow, knee-jerk way our media covers us is largely to blame. At its height, the Sunday Nation used to do 320,000 daily sales easily. Today it barely does 170,000, and falling.

Meanwhile, sites that don't do politics at all like Tuko are growing by leaps and bounds. A story on a disabled man who grew up an orphan trying to eke an honest living is likely to attract more eyeballs than a paper produced using millions.

Let me end with an unfortunate fact; our media managers need to go for training at EABL or Safaricom. These companies have risen to the top by recognising, among others, one weird thing - that Kenya is a country of many nations. Some nations don't like Raila, for example, while others on their part don't like Ruto or Uhuru. If these three keep dominating the headlines, you will alienate one of these nations at any one given time.

Today Raila is the most hated person in the lucrative Nairobi and Mt Kenya region/diaspora, which accounts for nearly 70 per cent of all consumption in Kenya by value (this is to say that EABL, for example, sells more than 70% of its products in the 10 Mt Kenya counties, the Gikuyu diaspora, and Nairobi).

What do you think has happened to the Nation's circulation in this big region when all it sees on the headlines is Raila this, Raila that? A legacy of Joe Odindo, who loaded the newsdesk with ODM-leaning writers and editors in the lead-up to 2007.

And for the record, before joining the Nation, Odindo had driven several promising magazines to the ground. NMG might sooner than later join his long list of failures.
 
Field Marshal said:
@Pamba 1, I used to be 'an insider' and I am more inclined to agree with Mwarimo's comment just below yours. Saying 'politics sells' is the same as saying 'ugali sells' in a restaurant that only serves ugali - it is a contradiction of fact.

To be fair, this is a conversation we had in the newsroom as far back 35 years ago and it continues to this day,. The faction that stood by the argument that 'politics sells' won the day, and is apparently still winning, unfortunately.

But I think the faction that said that politics DOESN'T sell was right all along.

Since around 2005, newspapers sales have been falling. You could attribute this to the emergence of social media, but I also think the shallow, knee-jerk way our media covers us is largely to blame. At its height, the Sunday Nation used to do 320,000 daily sales easily. Today it barely does 170,000, and falling.

Meanwhile, sites that don't do politics at all like Tuko are growing by leaps and bounds. A story on a disabled man who grew up an orphan trying to eke an honest living is likely to attract more eyeballs than a paper produced using millions.

Let me end with an unfortunate fact; our media managers need to go for training at EABL or Safaricom. These companies have risen to the top by recognising, among others, one weird thing - that Kenya is a country of many nations. Some nations don't like Raila, for example, while others on their part don't like Ruto or Uhuru. If these three keep dominating the headlines, you will alienate one of these nations at any one given time.

Today Raila is the most hated person in the lucrative Nairobi and Mt Kenya region/diaspora, which accounts for nearly 70 per cent of all consumption in Kenya by value (this is to say that EABL, for example, sells more than 70% of its products in the 10 Mt Kenya counties, the Gikuyu diaspora, and Nairobi).

What do you think has happened to the Nation's circulation in this big region when all it sees on the headlines is Raila this, Raila that? A legacy of Joe Odindo, who loaded the newsdesk with ODM-leaning writers and editors in the lead-up to 2007.

And for the record, before joining the Nation, Odindo had driven several promising magazines to the ground. NMG might sooner than later join his long list of failures.
Click to expand...

Data from KNBS, IEA would say otherwise. Quit being a scumbag.
 
Field Marshal said:
What do you think has happened to the Nation's circulation in this big region when all it sees on the headlines is Raila this, Raila that?
Click to expand...
But the headlines differ from region to region. I remember seeing a different headline in the Lake Region to that of the Mountain region. That was a smart move by NMG.

Kesho btw, they're launching a 'paywall service'...whatever that means
 
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