The vice of corruption runs through all media houses. Of course, there are still some morally upright journalists in the newspapers who uphold professional ethics, but they are too few to make an impression. This is why any talk of objectivity or balance in the Kenyan media is but a thin mirage. What used to be confined to the business desk has spread to the sports desks in all newsrooms. Now, it is reported that the worst are the business desks of the Daily Nation and East African Standard where, apparently, anything goes.
Most news sources have to pay for stories published.
Details of how this desk has been handling Goldenberg stories sound like a fairy tale. Impeccable details we have indicate that every story on Goldenberg fetches the writer a fair sum of money. A senior writer received a down payment of Shs 500,000, with a promise for a further Shs 1.5 million if another 'positive' story is published. There is evidence that the Goldenberg ring now includes the top of management at Nation Centre where some senior editors refer to Kamlesh Pattni, the public face of Goldenberg, simply as 'our friend up there'. For this reason, Kamlesh Pattni is assured of limited adversity any time Nation handles a story relating to Goldenberg.