The Standard Newspaper Kenya: To read the Standard, you may click here: THE STANDARD.
The Standard is one of the largest newspapers in Kenya with a 48 per cent market share. It is the oldest newspaper in the country and is owned by The Standard Group, which also runs the Kenya Television Network (KTN), Radio Maisha, The Nairobian (a weekly tabloid) and Standard Digital which is its online platform. The Standard Group is headquartered on Mombasa Road, Nairobi, having moved from its previous premises at the I&M Bank Tower.
The newspaper was established as the African Standard in 1902 as a weekly by Alibhai Mulla Jeevanjee, an immigrant businessman from British India. In 1905 Jeevanjee sold the paper to Maia Anderson and Rudolph Franz Mayer, who changed the name to the East African Standard. It became a daily paper and moved its headquarters from Mombasa to Nairobi in 1910. At the time the newspaper declared strongly colonialist viewpoints. The British-based Lonrho Group bought the newspaper in 1963, only a few months before Kenya’s independence.
The paper changed its name to the Standard in 1977 but the name East African Standard was revived later. It was sold to Kenyan investors in 1995. In 2004 the name was changed back to The Standard. It is the main rival to Kenya’s largest newspaper, the Daily Nation. In 1989, at a time when Kenya was going into multi-party era, the Standard Group acquired the KTN Television Channel.
It is the oldest newspaper published in Kenya. The top editors at the Standard Group include Kipkoech Tanui (The Standard, Daily Editions) and John Bundotich (Weekend Editions) with Charles Otieno editing The Nairobian. The head of Radio Maisha is Tom Japanni, KTN Managing Editor is Ellen Wanjiru, while Standard Digital Managing Editor is Carole Kimutai.
The other leading newspaper in Kenya is the Daily Nation which was started in the year 1958 as a Swahili weekly called Taifa by the Englishman Charles Hayes.