By any measure, 1960 was an epoch-defining year. At a time when the Cold War between the Kremlin and the West held a fearful world in its grip, American spy pilot Gary Powers was shot down over Soviet territory. France tested its first atomic bomb, Fidel Castro nationalised industry in Cuba and Nikita Khrushchev angrily pounded his shoe on a desk at the United Nations. Africa was in ferment. The Sharpeville massacre in South Africa brought demands for national independence to boiling point all over the continent. In French West Africa, colony after colony demanded and secured its sovereignty.
THE NATION celebrated its 10th birthday in 1970 unrecognisable from the feeble infant of a decade ago. It had turned its first profit in 1968 and overtook the Standard’s circulation in 1969. At the time of the anniversary, both the Sunday Nation and the Daily Nation sold well over 46,000 copies per issue. A new rotary press was installed, one of the most advanced in Africa, which enabled the newspapers to print photographs and advertisements in full colour. And a long-held determination of the Aga Khan – to turn the group into a public entity – was achieved. The idealism behind making shares available to the African public was underpinned by the protection which African co-ownership might provide against possible nationalization. The Aga Khan made available 40 per cent of his holding, 1.2 million shares at five shillings each, and this offer was more than twice over-subscribed among 3,200 individuals and institutions. The group’s payroll by then topped 800.
IN A SEMING reflection of its status, Kenya entered the 1980s hosting a number of international events. At the 30th general assembly of the International Press Institute in 1981, the Aga Khan, in a keynote address, called for higher Press standards. He listed responsible leadership, exchange of managerial and technical know-how and exchange of editorial expertise as ways in which quality could be enhanced and journalism could become a profession in the truest sense.
The years between 1990 and 2000 saw dynamic expansion in the Nation group: a new headquarters in downtown Nairobi, a new up market weekly, The EastAfrican, a $12 million (Sh750 million) press hall on the city’s outskirts with the latest in printing technology, entry to the internet and, crucially, a move into the broadcast media.
Capital expenditure soared to $12 million (Sh665 million) from $1.6 million (Sh93 million).
DEBT-FRE AND buoyant at the end of 2002, the Nation Media Group took steps to implement a board commitment to pursue “other opportunities beyond our current area of operation” and turned its attention to its neighbours in Uganda and Tanzania. Having already acquired a feisty, but hard-up, Kampala tabloid, The Monitor, NMG launched a radio station, Monitor FM 93.3, to capture the prime Uganda audience for news and entertainment. It won a starting audience share of 2 per cent against 11 per cent for the top Uganda station, but added to Monitor Publications Ltd’s fiscal burdens. For its part, the newspaper experienced constant difficulties with a government not used to being questioned and challenged in detail by the media.
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