Kenya has officially announced suspending a multi-million shilling marketing communication deal with CNN after the global news channel referred to the country as a terrorism hub. The Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) said the move was informed by the backlash from Kenyans angered by the misrepresentation on the country’s security status.
“Some narrative adverts were already running on CNN as we planned launch of above-the-line TV campaigns with them but we suspended all of that,” said CEO Muriithi Ndegwa told Business Daily, speaking at the launch of the 26th edition of the Maralal International Camel Derby in Nairobi.
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The CNN kicked off a storm after it showed a graphic just days to President Barrack Obama’s July visit in which it described Kenya as a “terror hotbed”, apparently in reference to spate of terrorist attacks that have rocked Kenya since 2013, climaxing with the killing nearly 150 Garissa University students in April.
Two guests invited on the CNN show to discuss security matters declared that Kenya, where less than 1,000 people have been killed in terror attacks, was more dangerous than Afghanistan and Iraq.
Last year, Afghanistan saw about 8,000 civilians killed in fighting and terror attacks, while sectarian violence in Iraq claimed more than 15,000 lives. The “terror hotbed” ignited patriotic sentiment against CNN from Kenyans who took to social media to mock or rebuke the American television network.
President Uhuru Kenyatta mocked CNN at the opening of the Sixth Global Entrepreneurship Summit, saying “Kenya is a hotbed of vibrant culture, spectacular natural beauty, and infinite possibility.”
Under the deal, Kenya had engaged CNN to run a one-year campaign targeting the US, Europe, Asia and Africa.
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