Kenya: Newspaper Heaven

Newsprint may be a dying medium, just don't tell that to Kenya. According to the Utne Reader, even in this digital age, Kenyans love their newspapers, so much so that each copy of a Kenyan newspaper is read on average by fourteen people and Kenyans who can't afford to buy their own personal copy of the local paper may "rent" one at a local newsstand - the equivalent of 13 cents will by you a half-hour of newspaper enjoyment in the capital, Nairobi. A study published in the Columbia Journalism Review points to a lack of Internet access across much of the country as a reason for the dominance of newsprint in the country. But newspapers also fill a social niche in Kenyan culture, where people will still gather to discuss the events of the day carried in the local broadsheet. One young Kenyan quoted in Utne said that even though he can access the web via his mobile phone, he expects to still read newspapers in 20 years, adding: "newspapers will not die here, definitely not."