Feature this, many a Nairobi journalist balk at the idea of reporters pestering a source for a story, then coming back to harangue the same source to buy advert space in their newspaper ...!
Such is the low that our new and uniquely Kenyan brand of journalism has sunk.
Kenya may have the distinction of having one of the freest and radiant press in Africa, but the freedom still comes at a steep price.
Corruption, low pay, and favoritism remain the top issues that Kenyan journalists have to grapple with aside from the daily deadline that they have to meet - but they are hard-working, some utterly brilliant.
It's a situation that exposes journalists to risks that range from physical to moral ones; Kenyan journalists continue to be vulnerable to bribery.
But why is this case?
A senior correspondent with a giant television network revealed to me at a corporate dinner party weeks back that many media companies do have the capacity to pay their staff well to keep them away from such lowly and corrupt practices but greed and the general economic politics of the Kenyan media will ensure that is non of that.
They are owned by the one per-cent rich elite with political and trade connections in and outside the country, thus anyone not ready to suckup to the trends and 'culture' better hit the paves.
A mid-level reporter in a media house in Nairobi told me he survives by working as a freelancer for a national television/newspaper network. They pay little compared to the returns coming in everyday to the company, and only for stories aired/published that are few and far between.So the reporter works double time by acting as a producer and an anchor in another private radio station.
To top it all off, this industrious reporter also works as a marketing and advertising person looking for advertising space from people heis suppose
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