KENYA: 8 newspaper columnists resign en mass

At a time the government of Kenya has constantly been accused of cracking down on the media, no less than eight leading newspaper columnists in the country have resigned en mass citing “loss in editorial independence”.

Moments after they threw in the towel, the columnists in a joint statement suggested government interference in the Nation Media Group (NMG).

“A worrying pattern has emerged where it appears the executive government is able to influence who works for or contributes to NMG,” the statement said.

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“Censoring individual columnists signals official intolerance for dissenting views and suggests executive willingness to go to any length – even co-opting editors – to achieve its aims,” it added.

The NMG while reacting to the development said it regretted the columnists’ position and it believed in “independence, fairness and balance”.

According to BBC’s Ferdinand Omondi from the capital, Nairobi, the resignations were clearly coordinated, and bring into question the editorial independence of NMG, including the Daily Nation, Kenya’s biggest circulating newspaper.

 

 

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