Kenya’s Nation Media Group has launched a daily business newspaper, writes Eric Nyakagwa.
The newspaper, Business Daily, is set to hit the streets today, March 7, the media house has announced.
According to a mission statement, the new daily will “report business news and reflect on the world at large with sophistication and originality as well as pursue an editorial mission that upholds the principles of free market enterprise, human freedom and democratic politics.â€ÂÂ
Nation Media Group chief executive Linus Gitahi said there has long been a need for a publication with a bias on business news.
“There is need for a publication that cuts through the clutter and tells you what you want to know about business news,†Gitahi told staff during its launch in Nairobi.
The Nation Media Group said it is aware that consumers want and are demonstrating increasing control over how and when they consume their media.
Hitherto, Kenya’s media houses have been carrying business news in their flagship publications as well as weekly pullouts such as Daily Nation’s Smart Company and Money, Standard’s Financial Standard and the People Daily’s People’s Business.
The Business Daily joins the Nation Media Group’s stable of three daily and weekly papers, including the mass-circulating Daily Nation and Sunday Nation as well as the Drama and True Love magazines and the regional East African weekly publication.
The Nairobi-based media house, which is largely owned by the Aga Khan, has been on an expansion spree though its launch of a television station in Uganda could hit a snag after Ugandan authorities switched it off last month in unexplained circumstances.
However, it operates a radio station and publishes newspapers, notably the Monitor in Uganda.
In Tanzania, it operates a radio and television stations as well as publishing the Mwananchi newspaper.
