The EastAfrican at 20 Still Offers Consistently Great Content

The value of great content cannot be ignored. There is a ton of content being created every day in some part of the world. A lot of this content is then shared through various avenues including print and video. A lot of this content will hardly make an impression and will fly by us the consumers. Some of this content will make a deep impression and will be shared, especially online and create conversations. In a world that is increasingly fast-paced, it is incredibly difficult to consistently create great content. This demand for content that consumers can ‘devour’ at high speeds has driven many a content creation business out of business. To therefore celebrate 20 years of consistent high value content is an achievement that The EastAfrican should take pride in.

I have been a reader of the newspaper for the last seven years, discovering it while at university. It was actually while researching a class assignment for my economics class that I came across the paper in the library. I perused through it and ended up reading it cover to cover. I have been a regular reader since then. A lot of the newspapers we have not only in the Kenyan market but also all over the world have failed in that they have not been consistent. Consistent should not be confused with stagnation, however. Consistency is in the ability to deliver a certain standard of content every time. The pressure to reach a wider audience, make more money or even be more ‘edgy’ has turned what used to be serious newspapers into tabloids.

In a world that is drowning in tabloids, (let me be clear here that I have no issue with tabloids, I am simply not the target market) it’s nice to have the option of a newspaper like The EastAfrican. I read the paper mostly for the Opinion pieces especially those written by Charles Onyango-Obbo and the detailed reporting. I like that they dedicate most of the paper to this. The paper is weekly so there is not much in the way of breaking news, although sometimes it does have some great exclusives, but this isn’t its niche. The core of the paper is to analyze what the big stories are across the East African region in great detail. I don’t have access to a lot of new content from the rest of the East African region and so I rely heavily on the paper to get an analysis of what I need to keep in mind in terms of news from the region. I suppose I am one of the readers that care very little for entertainment stories in this particular paper and only read the magazine section if there’s any interesting story on arts and culture.

The EastAfrican is available online and even has an app if you wish to get access to the full paper. I am glad to see the paper still going strong and I wish it a long run. I however, would like to see more stories on entrepreneurship in the region especially in the creative sector. There is a lot happening in the sector and it would be nice to see some features on the movers and shakers as well as an analysis on the creative economy in the region.