Somali Newspaper Run By MP Which Poached Nation, Standard Journalists

Before Viral Tea exclusively reported diplomatic and foreign affairs journalist Mwangi Maina's next move after leaving KTN News, the name Eastleigh Voice was only known best by the Kenyan Somali community.

Eastleigh Voice describes itself as a new information network, dedicated to delivering unbiased news, analysis, opinions, and event coverage with a fresh local perspective.

The newspaper is the very first of its kind in the country which champions the interests of the Somali community and was launched by a group of businessmen from the community who felt that their society had to be represented at one point or another.

The publication, which also has a digital news website going by the same name, started production last week after months of contemplating the idea.

Screengrab of the Eastleigh Voice newspaper. /EASTLEIGH VOICE

How It Was Started

Eastleigh Voice just happens to be masterminded by Kamukunji Member of Parliament (MP) Yusuf Hassan who flirted with the idea for a Somali newspaper for years and had approached several journalists from mainstream media houses to execute it.

Hassan also collaborated with other businessmen from Eastleigh, including Asmali Media, Events, and Public Relations Company, a leading Public Relations (PR), events management and digital marketing company owned by Ahmed Mohamed Asmali, alias the "mayor of Eastleigh".

Eastleigh Voice leveraged a population of over 2.5 million Somalis living in Kenya, according to the last census, to create a niche-based newspaper and media house, a first in five years, amidst dark times seeing world-renowned newspapers trimming productions or even folding, pulling in substantial traffic through its target audience.

Purpose

Some say that the idea of the newspaper was to provide a platform in which the Somali community can champion its views and aspirations as well as have their stories told in a manner that matches up to or even overtakes the current mainstream giants such as Nation Media Group (NMG), Royal Media Services (RMS), Standard Group Limited among others.

Simply put, the more the Somali community gets media coverage, the more they can be taken seriously in their goal for nationalism in a future envisioned by a Somali running for the presidency, with the newspaper having the backing of top political leaders from North Eastern and pastoralist communities.

Somali nationalism in this case entails uniting the Somali people who share a common language, religion, culture and ethnicity.

Raiding From Mainstream Media

However, to actualise this dream of taking the competition to the big boys, Eastleigh Voice has embarked on what any news publication starting with a sizeable chunk of revenue and backing would do; poach journalists, editors and other media professionals from its competition.

Viral Tea has learnt that its managing editor also serves as a senior-most editor in one of the two biggest newspapers in the country, but works at the newspaper's headquarters in California, Eastleigh, incognito.

Eastleigh Voice has also gone for the regional media house, NMG, poaching journalists from the Daily Nation newspaper including Mary Wambui, Amina Wako and Joseph Ndunda, who had served as crime reporters.

Also hired were former NMG Mombasa correspondent Farhiya Hussein, Manny Anyango who was a Digital Journalist and Social Media Executive at Radio Africa Group's (RAG) The Star, former Standard Group Limited’s digital editor Patel Okumu, Apollo Ochieng, veteran journalist Yassin Juma among others.

The acquisition of Mwangi Maina to its ranks was viewed as Eastleigh Voice's bold move to reinforce its journalism, given that this was the first journalist to be poached from a mainstream TV station, KTN News.

"Yes. Joined the vibrant Eastleigh Voice as a Foreign Affairs journalist to counterbalance mainstream narratives, offering an alternative perspective, and amplifying the voice of the Eastleigh community," Maina confirmed when Viral Tea sought his reason for making the move.

"Career progression is very crucial. Eastleigh Voice amplifies the voices of communities often overlooked by mainstream media. It's a dynamic platform driven by the energy and innovation of young individuals."

Other than being a digital media platform, Eastleigh Voice has an ePaper published every week that visitors can access and read free of charge for members. The physical copy however goes for Ksh50.