On February 5, 2024, a public notice attributed to the Kenya Bureau of Standards circulated online claiming that the Nation Media Group and the Standard Group use carbon black ink in their products. Carbon black is the main pigment in black printing ink, but there are calls for it to be banned because it is considered potentially carcinogenic. Even though KEBS later dismissed the notice as fake, a coordinated campaign had already gained traction online attacking NMG and Standard Group with the hashtags #WhatIsNationHiding, #KEBSPublicAlert and #NMGCancerInk.
Genesis of the allegations.
On January 30, 2024, Nation Media Group launched an investigative series, Broken System, shedding light on the challenges Kenyans experience in accessing government services. The series exposed several failings in the system that kept Kenyans from accessing public services, including neglected patients at the Kenyatta National Hospital, officials soliciting bribes for passport issuance, and pensioners begging for their dues to no avail.
This was soon followed by coordinated campaigns after the series’ debut attacking Nation Media Group for this reporting. The goal of these campaigns was to damage the media house’s credibility in the eyes of the public. Piga Firimbi has previously highlighted other hate campaigns against Nation Media Group and their products here, here and here.
The origin of this new campaign traces back to a notice allegedly from The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), dated February 5, 2024, accusing Standard Group and Nation Media Group of using carbon black ink, which contains traces of polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) linked to cancer and other health issues. KEBS dismissed the notice as fake on February 6, 2024.
Despite the detraction by KEBS, the fake notice circulated widely, accompanied by captions accusing Nation Media Group of failing to adhere to the Media Council of Kenya’s Code of Conduct. Although Standard Group was mentioned in the notice, the coordinated campaign solely focused on Nation Media Group.
Fake digital cards, purportedly from Kenyans.co.ke, People Daily, Citizen Digital, Tuko, and The Star were also created and posted alongside tweets claiming KEBS had issued a warning against buying newspapers published by NMG and Standard Group.
Unraveling coordination and misinformation.
The campaign started on February 5, 2024, reaching its climax on February 6, 2024, with a daily average of 1.2K posts. Throughout the campaign, the hashtag #WhatIsNationHiding accumulated over 6,000 mentions.
Investigations reveal that 76.4% of the posts were shared from Kenya. Still, others originated from various parts of the world, including Tunisia, The United States of America, The United Kingdom, Cameroon, India, Argentina, The Philippines, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam, The Central African Republic, South Africa, Somalia, Czechia, Seychelles, Australia, Sudan, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, New Zealand, Greece, Romania, Pakistan, Colombia, Belgium, Mauritania, Finland, Germany, France among others. This wide distribution suggests the possible use of VPNs to conceal the true origin of the posts.
A map showing the global origin of coordinated posts
The posts shared from the mentioned countries had similar wording and graphics, all shared on the same day, clearly indicating that they were not organic.
The major accounts in this campaign included @richiestorn, @mumbi001m, @donn254_, @nyumurobberts, @mrokerosi, @iammithamo, @nyar_onyi, and @crkinyan. These accounts, on X, received the highest engagement, as they consistently posted content attacking Nation Media Group’s credibility.
Notably, these accounts are associated with another campaign targeting Nation Media Group dubbed #DearAgaKhan investigated by Piga Firimbi here. Users @iammithamo, @crkinyan, @mrokerosi and @nyumurobberts were also involved in yet another coordinated misinformation campaign alleging Maryanne Keitany was behind the fake fertilizer scandal exposed by Africa Uncensored in their 2 part series, Fertile Deception. Piga Firimbi debunked their claims here.
Along with the fake digital cards, the mentioned accounts, and other small accounts that helped amplify their claims, altered news items to align with their agenda. An example is this post on X purportedly showing a news item from Citizen TV’s Monday Report with the headline “Matope Media,” which translates to “rubbish media”. This was likely intended to imply Citizen TV accused Nation Media Group of biased and inaccurate journalism. The clip includes Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s speech (beginning 5:53) from last year’s Madaraka Day celebrations, where he criticized the media for being aligned with the opposition. The video looks authentic at first glance, but some inconsistencies raise doubts about its legitimacy.
While the segment was aired on Citizen TV’s Monday Report on June 19, 2023, the caption has been altered. Originally titled “Kuria’s Burning Mouth,” the segment focused on Moses Kuria’s verbal attack against Nation Media Group on June 18, 2023. At the time, Kuria, serving as the CS for Investments, Trade, and Industry, threatened to withdraw government advertising from Nation Media Group platforms. This outburst followed NTV’s expose of a suspected corrupt cooking oil deal allegedly linked to Kuria’s ministry. Including a clip from Gachagua’s speech in Citizen TV’s bulletin aimed to illustrate that Kuria’s attack on the press and criticism of the media were not isolated incidents.
The video highlighted above was not the only manipulated video in circulation. Another video featuring President William Ruto in an interview with KTN News before the August 9, 2022, general elections was also circulated. In the clip, he urges the media to provide fair coverage for all candidates.
However, the caption in this video was also manipulated. In the clip extracted from the timestamp 23:39:51, the altered headline reads “Corrupt Media”. However, a keyword search on YouTube with the words “KTN Ruto interview July 7, 2022” reveals the caption “ Probing Ruto Plans and Promises.”
Decoding The Language
The language used in the highlighted posts and others reflects negative sentiments toward Nation Media Group. The captions accused the media house of prioritizing commercial interests over journalistic integrity, lacking credibility and independence, and being biased. They also raise concerns about Nation Media’s reputation and allegations of violations of journalism ethics.
Additionally, the captions mention “numerous complaints” regarding defamation lawsuits against the media house.
While it is true that there have been defamation cases against NMG as evidenced here, here, here, and here, it is important to note that these cases are unrelated to the claims originating from the KEBS notice.
Implications on media integrity
Coordinated campaigns like these, targeting media houses, may have devastating effects. They attack the Fourth Estate’s credibility, eroding the public’s trust. The journalists affiliated with these organizations sometimes deal with threats and online harassment.
Four public hate campaigns later, Nation Media Group decided to take action against these bullies, reporting the perpetrators to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), and presenting the posts from X as evidence. They have also lodged complaints with X, providing evidence their platform is being used to defame them. Now, we sit and wait, hoping journalistic integrity will be upheld.
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