An Overview of Kenya’s Media Historical Developments: A Legacy of Persistent Threats and Impediments

Abstract

Several studies document the origin of the mass media industry in Kenya and its meteoric rise over the years from this time of its establishment. In these studies, scholars demonstrate how both the intermittent proliferation and reduction of mass media institutions are embedded within Kenya's specific political dispensations. Further, they show how the various existing political conditions during these dispensations have impacted the growth of the media industry as a whole in Kenya. In this article, the focus is on understanding how Kenya's political conditions have significantly affected the media in executing its mandate from the time it was established, to this contemporary moment. A critical awareness about the effects of such conditions is developed as a crucial tool for analyzing why the Kenyan media has been operating the way it has and how it can be strengthened to realize change in its operation.