The Daily Nation is a Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

n independent newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

. It is the most influential newspaper in Kenya with a daily circulation of about 205,000 copies. The total readership is likely to be higher as each copy is read by a large number of people. It is East Africa

East Africa

East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...

's largest newspaper.

Location

It is headquartered at Nation Centre, a landmark 17-storeyed twin tower building situated in Kimathi Street in the central business district of Kenya's capital city Nairobi

Nairobi

Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...

. It is part of the Nation Media Group

Nation Media Group

Nation Media Group is a Kenyan media group listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange. NMG was founded by Aga Khan IV in 1959 and is the largest private media house in East and Central Africa with offices in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania...

. It is a publicly listed company, quoted on the Nairobi Stock Exchange

Nairobi Stock Exchange

The Nairobi Securities Exchange is the principal stock exchange of Kenya. It began in 1954 as an overseas stock exchange while Kenya was still a British colony with permission of the London Stock Exchange. The NSE is a member of the African Stock Exchanges Association...

, and has about 7,500 shareholders. Its principal shareholder is the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development

Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development

The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development ' is the sole for-profit agency of the Aga Khan Development Network and works in partnership with international organizations and governments to stimulate the private sectors of developing economies, with the aim of generating capital for investment...

, an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network

Aga Khan Development Network

The Aga Khan Development Network is a group of private, non-denominational development agencies that seek to empower communities and individuals to improve living conditions and opportunities, in sub-Saharan Africa, Central and South Asia, and the Middle East...

.

History

The Daily Nation was started in 1958 as a Swahili weekly called Taifa by the Englishman Charles Hayes. It was bought in 1959 by His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV

Aga Khan IV

Prince Karim, Aga Khan IV, NPk, NI, KBE, CC, GCC, GCIH, GCM is the 49th and current Imam of the Shia Imami Nizari Ismaili Muslims. He has held this position under the title of Aga Khan since July 11, 1957, when, at the age of 20, he succeeded his grandfather, Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan...

, the spiritual leader of the Ismaili

Ismaili

' is a branch of Shia Islam. It is the second largest branch of Shia Islam, after the Twelvers...

 community worldwide. Taifa was then changed into a daily newspaper, Taifa leo (Swahili for "Nation today"), in January 1960. An English language edition called Daily Nation was published on 3 October 1960, in a process organised by former editor of the British News Chronicle

News Chronicle

The News Chronicle was a British daily newspaper. It ceased publication on 17 October 1960, being absorbed into the Daily Mail. Its offices were in Bouverie Street, off Fleet Street, London, EC4Y 8DP, England.-Daily Chronicle:...

, Michael Curtis

Michael Curtis (journalist)

Michael Curtis was a British newspaper editor and executive.Curtis was born in Cambridge and studied at St Lawrence College, Ramsgate and Sidney Sussex College at the University of Cambridge. During World War II, he fought with the Duke of Wellington's Regiment...

. The publisher was East African Newspapers (Nation Series) Ltd, which later became the Nation Media Group with its operations over the years covering the entire East African region with a diversified product portfolio.

Market Share

The Daily Nation and its sister paper Sunday Nation have grown phenomenally since inception. They command a market share of 74 per cent and outsell their nearest competitor by a ratio of more than 3:1.

Apart from Daily Nation, the Nation Media Group owns a television station (NTV), a radio station (Easy FM

Easy FM (Kenya)

Easy FM, formerly known as Nation FM, is an English-speaking national radio station based in Nairobi, Kenya. It is owned by the Nation Media Group.- FM frequencies :*Nairobi 96.3*Mombasa 101.5*Kisumu 102.1*Nyeri 104.9*Eldoret 102.7*Nakuru 97.7*Meru 93.9...

) and other newspapers including the weekly The EastAfrican

The EastAfrican

The EastAfrican is a weekly newspaper published in Kenya by the Nation Media Group, which also publishes Kenya's national Daily Nation. The EastAfrican is circulated in Kenya and the other countries of East Africa including Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda...

, a daily business paper, The Business Daily, the Swahili language daily Taifa Leo

Taifa Leo

Taifa Leo is the only Swahili language newspaper published from Kenya. It was founded in 1958. It is published by the Nation Media Group....

and the Ugandan daily The Monitor

The Monitor (Uganda)

The Daily Monitor is Uganda’s leading independent daily newspaper. The "Monitor" name is shared by the Saturday Monitor and Sunday Monitor, which are also published by Monitor Publications Limited. It has an online readership of over 1,000,000.The newspaper was established in 1992 as The Monitor...

.

Digital versions of the Nation titles and The East African are sold to subscribers via Newsstand.

The newspaper also maintains a website, which hosts online editions of the daily and Sunday titles with links to its other titles, across the region. Access is free and the site's daily hit rate is more than three million.

A documentary film

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 (55 minutes, color), released in 2000, directed by Hillie Molenaar

Hillie Molenaar

Hillie Molenaar is a documentary film director.She left school at 15 and worked as a cleaner, waitress, and bookkeeper before finding her niche as a documentary filmmaker in 1974 when, at the age of 29, she made her first film Protest Garden. She was assistant to the legendary Joris Ivens before...

 and Joop van Wijk, gives a closeup view of the newspaper.

Dependent newspapers

• The Saturday Nation
• The Sunday Nation
• Business Daily
• Taifa Leo
  Taifa Leo
  Taifa Leo is the only Swahili language newspaper published from Kenya. It was founded in 1958. It is published by the Nation Media Group....
  
  , a Swahili newspaper

Features

• DN2
• Sports magazine
• Saturday magazine
• Smart Company
• Living
• Money
• Lifestyle
• Buzz