6.29.2006
The News
Every morning, as I leave the “estate”, I pass a newspaper seller, who spreads the day's papers out on a burlap sack and pins them down with stones. There is always a group of people crowded around, reading the headlines of the 5 English-language dailies, and occasionally forking out a few shillings to walk away with a copy of the day’s news. At my house, the TV is tuned to the BBC news round up in the morning, Swahili News at 7 and the English News at 9 without fail. Dominating the news since I arrived has been the case of the Artur brothers, two Armenians who were hastily deported after some sort of showdown at the airport, but who may be recalled to testify before a congressional commission if a presidential commission doesn’t declare the congressional commission unconstitutional because the president’s office may have been a little too buddy buddy with the Armenians who may or may not be arms traffickers and who may or may not come back anyway so that one of them can marry the Kenyan love of his life. I think.
In Tanzania, the Swahili papers were primarily gory photos of bus accidents, tabloid photos of girls in small outfits acting sloppy, and accusations of witchcraft between the two best soccer teams. The English language paper was almost unreadable and certainly did little to advance public interest. Here, the papers are mostly dominated by political news, but they also publish Reuter’s reports from around Africa, and have pretty intelligent editorials and even some arts and living pullouts and kids’ sections. The television news is decent too, even doing stories on the plights of some of the poorest communities who have been displaced by development or, in the northwest, by conflict.
The most exciting thing about the news here is that everyone is engaged, and you can hear people arguing politics in every public place. I get the sense that everyone is fed up with corrupt and self-serving leaders, and tired of living in a dysfunctional country as a result of it. And they are certainly willing to say so. Five years ago, Kenyans were living under a blatantly corrupt ruler finishing his 25th year in office and this month the members of parliament had to cut back some of the benefits they had lavished on themselves. Now, will Kenyans be able to translate their outrage into action to fundamentally change the way their government works? I am excited to find out.
In Tanzania, the Swahili papers were primarily gory photos of bus accidents, tabloid photos of girls in small outfits acting sloppy, and accusations of witchcraft between the two best soccer teams. The English language paper was almost unreadable and certainly did little to advance public interest. Here, the papers are mostly dominated by political news, but they also publish Reuter’s reports from around Africa, and have pretty intelligent editorials and even some arts and living pullouts and kids’ sections. The television news is decent too, even doing stories on the plights of some of the poorest communities who have been displaced by development or, in the northwest, by conflict.
The most exciting thing about the news here is that everyone is engaged, and you can hear people arguing politics in every public place. I get the sense that everyone is fed up with corrupt and self-serving leaders, and tired of living in a dysfunctional country as a result of it. And they are certainly willing to say so. Five years ago, Kenyans were living under a blatantly corrupt ruler finishing his 25th year in office and this month the members of parliament had to cut back some of the benefits they had lavished on themselves. Now, will Kenyans be able to translate their outrage into action to fundamentally change the way their government works? I am excited to find out.
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