THE PEOPLE NEWSPAPER : IS IT REALLY FREE?

File: an image of the People newspaper.

THE PEOPLE NEWSPAPER: IS IT FREE?

My question is, is The People newspaper really free? Hold on because you will have the answer down there.

Newspapers in many countries around the world are not sold to citizens instead they are distributed free of charge in the streets in a first-come first-serve basis.

In the streets of London, one can find the national and regional newspapers every morning, afternoon and evening hours. Among the notable newspapers which are in circulation in United Kingdom include the Daily Mail, the Sun, the Financial Times, the Observer (which mainly deals with African news), the Guardian and many other newspapers and magazines whose distribution is majorly centred at the cities of Britain. All the above listed newspapers are distributed free of charge.

In African countries the case is absolutely different. Many newspapers are given several advertisements by businessmen, politicians, government, private sectors, institutions, individuals and many others and they also go ahead and sell the papers instead of giving out to target masses for free. To hire a page of a newspaper is a lot of money. It is very prohibitive and not anyone can advertise in it and this, therefore, enables newspapers to get a lot of money since those who resort to advertise in the newspapers are the wealth guys.

We currently have the people newspaper claiming to be distributing its publication free of charge, but some individuals are wondering why some people are being given while others are denied.

I operate from the University of Nairobi main campus and I am a print media journalism student. Since the day, about a month ago, I saw an advert in the K24 Television station; I was flattered by exhilaration of acute ecstasy because I knew, I would get updated every morning since my favourite newspaper would not be sold to me anymore. And despite that, the People newspaper is one of the professional newspapers in Kenya and not like other newspapers which are distributed free of charge in the streets of Nairobi. It is professional in that the paper is written by trained journalists.

Last Saturday, I was lucky to get one of these so-called free papers in the University main entrance after serious confrontation with the lady who was distributing them. She had placed them inside the University and stayed with one newspaper in her hand outside the University gate. Since I was from the University library at around 11a.m, I was eager to get a paper to peruse through the headlines and see the splash. Near the gate I saw a heap of newspapers placed on top of a stone and then I decided to pick one because I could identify them as the People because of their green colour.

That is when everything started to go wrong. I heard a harsh voice of a lady saying “hey! unatoa gazeti pila kuomba”. I thought she was joking, but she was really serious. I smiled at her and told her, there was no need for me to leave the paper inside the school gate and pass the gate to borrow it and I knew the papers were being given free of charge. She told me one must borrow it first and it is her tacit mandate to decide whether to give you or not.

We normally receive free afternoon paper called X-News which is distributed all over the city. This paper, though not fully professional, is given out in large numbers and its circulation is all over the city. For my case I thought the people paper is being distributed just like X-News.

I also found this lady, who gives out the paper at the University main gate, on Tuesday and I borrowed her the paper and she said she was left with none and I could see a heap of them on the very stone they were last Saturday.

Today, Thursday, I found a man clutching some papers in his armpit near another entrance of the University, so I decided to borrow one and he also said “kuna mahali nachukua  hizi”. So I am wondering, is the so-called free newspaper really free or it is being given to some target group of people? From my point of view, the paper is not free at all. It is given to the people who are likely to advertise in it or those who can buy the products being advertised in the paper.

Though Mediamax Group (a media company which own the people newspaper) decided to have its paper distributed free, it can never have as large circulation and readership as the daily Nation newspaper whose circulation currently stands at 300,000 and over one million readership per day.