After the acquisition this week of East Africa’s biggest media outfit by a politically well connected billionaire businessman, questions are being asked about the future of independent journalism in the region. Every day millions of people in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda turn to one of the dozens of newspapers, TV and radio stations or digital outlets owned by the Nation Media Group (NMG) for reliable news. In countries where journalists have come under pressure from the authorities, titles such as Kenya’s Daily Nation, Tanzania’s Mwananchi or Uganda’s Daily Monitor have become the standard-bearers for trusted information.
Rostam Aziz, who was named Tanzania’s first dollar billionaire by Forbes in 2013, announced this week that his company, Taarifa Ltd, had bought a controlling stake in the group – amounting to 54% of the business. The deal still has to get approval from media regulators in the various countries. As a former MP for Tanzania’s long-governing Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party and someone who courts leading politicians across the region, critics have expressed concerns that Aziz might be tempted to influence NMG’s editorial output.
But on Wednesday, at a press conference at a plush hotel in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, the 65-year-old tycoon, who has large investments in gas and telecoms, was at pains to reaffirm his belief in robust reporting. He said he backed “credible and independent journalism” as being “essential for the development of our society”. Aziz added that the “partnership is grounded in a commitment to editorial professionalism and institutional credibility”. NMG has spent decades defending editorial independence through some of the region’s most turbulent political moments.
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