The Kenyan Blog Awards arrangements are progressing well and we’re excited that X News, Kenya’s first free newspaper and 2nd largest verified circulation in the country has come on board as one our sponsors. X News has come on board because they believe that the blogging space is the space to play in. Other than sponsoring awards, X News intends to continue finding more ways in which to support the blogging community in future. Here is what Paul Marshall, the CEO and publisher has to say about this.
“X News Kenya is delighted to sponsor the Kenya Bloggers Association awards – that is the opening line you expect and that frankly, anyone would say. We are delighted. Thrilled. A little confused maybe, but certainly, absolutely delighted.
Why are we confused? Well. We are amazed that one of the old established media houses hasn’t come along and slapped a few logos around and peered over their reading glasses and offered those words that sound like encouragement but reek of condescension.
Surely they are missing the boat. Is it accident or design? Kenya’s average age is under 20, media consumption is changing. Cabinet reshuffles don’t happen at 1pm on KBC. The 9 o’clock news is not the main information fare. When some companies lobbied for media liberalisation, they didn’t mean it should be open to anybody – hell no – just that the smug little circle should be expanded to include them too. Do they know where blogging, community content and citizen journalism fit in? Do they actually want it? Well….
X News is traditional in some senses, we actually print a newspaper Monday through Friday for example (fyi it is the 2nd largest VERIFIED circulation in Kenya). We have a big team and an editorial policy. We have structures and constraints. But, in our hearts we want to bloggers!
We are more like you than you may assume. We don’t have political ownership and so no interest in the election cycle. We are not dictated to by old men, clutching dearly to the status quo. We are liberated. Our readers are young. Our team is young. We are impatient for Kenya to catch up with the world. Migrate now. Move now. Change now. Be world class, finally, now.
The blogging community is crucial to change in Kenya. It is important that young Kenyan’s define the future they want. It must be claimed publicly, not whispered, and the blogosphere allows us to do that. Whether we are discussing the economy, the arts, politics, sports, cooking or photography, some of the best content in Kenya is put together by the youthful community in Kenya that come together under the BAKE banner.
The BAKE awards represent the best of the blogs and we think the best of the future. That is the space we play in.
We will continue to support the blogging community, and will work to find more and innovative ways of doing it. The X News bloggers edition? Who knows, but we are delighted to be involved”.