Business Daily, Kenya’s premier daily business newspaper published by the Nation Media Group, is set to fire corrupt journalists among its team of reporters and editors.
To crackdown on what is called in the industry as “envelop journalism” – or those who are paid by news sources to take care of their interests – the paper’s Managing Editor, Mr Ochieng Rapuro, says culprits will be kicked out in next few days.
“In a few days, we shall let go off these people to save our integrity…. it should serve as a warning to anyone still in the newsroom,” says Mr Rapuro in an internal memo to editorial staff seen by BUSINESS TODAY. “Some among us are on the payroll of PR firms and other news sources and are thus here to just serve the interest of these people.”
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Mr Rapuro says in the Memo that a separate group of Business Daily journalists even runs public relations (PR) companies from the newsroom with complete with accounts, which is a direct conflict of interest as their clients have an unfair advantage over external news sources and story subjects.
Corruption is a sticky issue in Kenya’s media industry, especially newsrooms where editors and reporters have been accused of readily being on the take. The Nation Media Group ocassionally runs integrity campaigns using its newspapers – Business Daily, Daily Nation and weekend titles – against its journalists taking bribes but with no much success. Recently Royal Media Services suspended a number of journalists over allegations of being bribed by a politician to ‘kill’ a story.
Business Daily is highly respected in business circles as an authoritative and professionally done newspaper with high calibre journalists. Its journalists have won many awards for their good job. But behind this rosy image, it turns out, there are ethical compromises.
Sources say tension is high in the BD newsroom.
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