Are We Ready to Rethink the Media We Grew Up Admiring?
When Nation Media Group announced the closure of its Mombasa Bureau, the reaction across the media fraternity was swift and emotional. WhatsApp groups lit up. Facebook and X posts followed. Some blamed management for failing journalists. Others argued that legacy media houses have refused to adjust to a fast-changing digital ecosystem. Both sides raised valid points. But neither tells the full story. The uncomfortable truth is that journalism in large media houses operates within business enterprises. However noble the mission, the newsroom does not exist in isolation from the balance sheet. The strength of journalism is tied, almost entirely, to the financial health of the organisation that sustains it. The crisis facing journalism today is not a crisis of relevance, but a crisis of sustainability. This is not uniquely Kenyan. Across the world, credible journalism is under strain. Print circulation has declined sharply over the past decade, and advertising revenues have followed t...