NMG, The Standard Hit After State Directs All Print Ads to The Star Newspaper

The government has dealt a blow to the mainstream media by directing all its print ads to a single media house.

Nation Media Group, The People Daily and The Standard are the most affected by this move, as their contract to run MyGovernment, a state-owned print outlet, expired in December 2023.

The Ministry of ICT is responsible for this drastic change in the public sector advertising, following the Treasury Circular No. 09/2015 of July 10, 2015 that stated the Cabinet’s decision to establish the Government Advertising Agency (GAA) as the sole agency for all public sector ads, notices and announcements.

Previously, MyGov was printed and distributed regularly by four daily newspapers: Daily Nation, The Standard, The Star and The People Daily.

The Ministry then sought bids for public sector advertising. Convergence Media – the publishers of The Star newspaper, submitted the lowest and most viable bid and secured the contract.

This means that for the next two years, The Star newspaper will be the exclusive printer and distributor of MyGov, which will also feature on all the online and broadcasting channels of Convergence Media.

The contract terms restrict print ads from all public institutions, except the counties, to MyGov.

Any requests for exemptions to advertise outside MyGov, on a day other than Tuesday – when MyGov is published, will be forwarded to The Star newspaper after obtaining approval from the ICT ministry.

“Therefore, this office will not approve any requests by MDAs to place any ads on any other platform other than Convergence Media,” said the ministry in a notice to the public