Gay and in the news.

I stumbled upon a story in the BBC and as I read it I could not help but note that a news story of its kind would never have seen the light of day in the Kenyan mainstream news media. Like many African countries, homosexuality is not accepted in Kenya. It is a crime and one can be imprisoned if found guilty of being gay. This may sound ridiculous to some ears and perfectly normal to others.

To understand why the media in Kenya is very careful and conservative about issues like this, one has to understand that the main purpose of the media is to support national interests with regard to economic and social development. The media has to support the government in the spread of national unity and cultural integrity. What is not good for all of us, cannot be good at all.

The BBC story was about a young man who is living in the UK who claims to be gay,christian and African. It was not an article that one would define as anti-gay, as a matter of fact it is easy to see that the tone of the article is a sympathetic one towards gay Africans. The lines that BBC chose to highlight are those that applauded the UK for being accepting towards the gay community and those condemning African leaders for not embracing the gay community. The subject of the article was a 31-year-old Kenyan student currently studying in the UK. He was saddened by the fact that in Cameroon, there was an outing of top personalities for their alleged homosexuality. He was expressing his hope that one day he can be able to expose who he really is and not be afraid. Political campaigns in Kenya never entail gay rights or the empowerment of gay community. It is not an issue that commands any attention unless of course the media is condemning homosexuality.

It cannot be denied that there is a gay community in Africa and everyday it grows out it of its shyness. Many underground gay movements have taken root and the volcano is about to erupt. The mass media in Kenya has been under pressure to cover stories on homosexuality and the latest fault line being the case of a kenyan gay couple who got married in the UK. The Kenyan Newspapers, TV & Radio stations ran the story but not in the same friendly tone as that of BBC. The lines that Nation Newspaper chose to highlight were those about how the two men's families are being victimized in the rural villages where they have to live with the consequence of having raised gay children. They chose to highlight the shame that the parents are facing. They chose to talk about how Gichia and Ngenga are pleading with the world to leave them alone and mind their own business-- Nothing about rights or acceptance.Politicians in Kenya of course only speak against homosexuality, or don't speak of it at all.

Kenya is still a very homophobic society and the story did indeed spark outrage and controversy. This maybe precisely what the mass media is afraid of. With the gay issue being hot on the lips of every kenyan, it is unlikely that the media will keep quiet about it. At the end of the day, they still want to make money.

The Sale of American Newspapers is Falling-says the Economist.

According to the Economist the sale of American newspapers has been falling and keeps falling. At the end of September 2009, daily circulation fell by 10.1% compared to September of 2008. The Economist says that more readers are moving to the internet to get the news free. I couldn't help but wonder if this is purely due to the recession or if it had more to do the content of the newspapers. Of course not all newspapers are entirely biased or filled with irrelevant human interest stories but more so, the advertising. A great example that is so close to home is the AJC. If you compare how much of the content in the AJC is advertising and how much is actual news you find that about a third of the paper consists of advertising.

The commercial influence on newspapers is growing. The desire for profit cannot be ignored and yet this desire for profit may be driving newspapers to the grave. I don't know about you, but when I pick up my newspaper I want to see news and not advertising. Sometimes I pick up a newspaper and I wonder why they don't just make it an advertising paper rather than a NEWSPAPER. There is just too much advertising and very little news. Stories on violence and sex scandals can be attributed to the huge desire to make profit. It is difficult to differentiate between mainstream newspapers and tabloids and magazines based on content because there is not much of a difference.

The only paper whose circulation did not drop is the Wall Street Journal. I flipped through a copy of the October 22, 2009 issue to see why its readers are so faithful to the paper.I still do not know why but one thing was evident, not half as many ads as those in the AJC! Yes, I understand that the cost of publishing is high, and yes I understand that the more the advertisements the more the money to produce tomorrows paper, but please, let us not lose focus on what the function of the NEWSPAPER is.