Kenya News Agency (KNA) was established in 1963 as a news media with a mission to build the then-nascent Kenyan nation.
Media assets
News agency: Kenya News Agency (KNA)
State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)
Ownership and governance
KNA is an agency owned by the government and run as a unit of the Department of Information at the Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology. KNA’s management is appointed by the ministry, and its members are usually selected from among people who have worked in the civil service.
Source of funding and budget
KNA is wholly funded by the government and receives a state allocation through Parliament, according to local experts and journalists. Information about the size of the KNA’s budget is not available.
Editorial independence
As a government entity, KNA toes the ministry line in its reporting of government events and pronouncements in a positive light. The agency’s mission is to report on the government’s policies, projects, programs and initiatives.
The appointment in October 2023 of a new head of the Directorate of Information, Joseph Kipkoech, was expected by local journalists to bring significant changes to the country’s media and to influence the operation of KNA.
Kipkoech said he wanted to help KNA modernize to a level comparable to that of international news agencies. Local journalists interviewed for this report in October 2023 said they expected Kipkoech to bring more editorial freedom to KNA. However, journalists familiar with KNA interviewed for this report in March 2024 said that the agency does not enjoy editorial independence.
No statue and no oversight or assessment mechanism to validate KNA’s editorial independence have been identified.
June 2024