Abstract
This chapter gives the research background to overcoming convergence challenges in East Africa’s media houses: Standard Media Group, Kenya. Although the newsrooms in East Africa are evolving to multimedia, the multi-media journalist is slow in coming. This paper explores the extent to which media houses are driving the process of media convergence and if they are mobilizing multiple media platforms to the point where they become one medium (Chakaveh & Bogen, 2007). Convergence is an ambiguous term used by various disciplines to describe and analyse processes of change towards uniformity or union. When applied to the communication sector, it is often referred to as media convergence. A common feature of media convergence is its inter-disciplinary and multi-purpose character (Schneider, 2012; Schuppert, 2006). An ideal media convergence situation uses the same reporters to produce stories for television, radio, telecommunication and internet mediums. These can be enhanced through advent of new communication technologies such as mobile terminals, digital television or internet. Though total convergence is not yet a reality, an effectively converged media house would synergies resources; human, technological and capital tools and assets to enable efficient flow of content across multiple media platforms (Greyzed theme, 2012). This paper explores the extent to which media houses in East Africa are converging: A case study of Standard Media Group, Nairobi, Kenya. It will also identify positive and negative consequences of convergence of media houses in East Africa and find out how journalists are responding to the challenges of convergence.
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Kanyeki, J.W. (2017). Overcoming Convergence in East Africa’s Media Houses: The Case of the Standard Media Group. In: Friedrichsen, M., Kamalipour, Y. (eds) Digital Transformation in Journalism and News Media. Media Business and Innovation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27786-8_7
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