NAIROBI, Kenya — The Standard Media Group has announced that a technical issue has temporarily disrupted broadcasting on its major television and radio stations.
In a statement released on Friday, May 23, the media company informed the public that its platforms, including KTN, Radio Maisha, Spice FM, and Berur FM, were experiencing a service interruption. The company assured its audience that engineers were actively working to resolve the technical hitch and restore normal broadcasting.
Despite the temporary outage, Standard Media Group confirmed that all affected stations remained accessible online.
“Standard Group radio and TV platforms are temporarily off air due to a technical hitch; KTN, Radio Maisha, Spice FM, and Berur FM are available online as engineers work to restore services,” the company stated.
This technical disruption occurs against a backdrop of recent scrutiny faced by the Standard Media Group regarding its newspaper headlines, which have garnered attention from prominent political figures, including President William Ruto and Azimio leader Raila Odinga.
On Sunday, April 20, President Ruto strongly criticized The Standard newspaper for a headline that likened his working relationship with Raila Odinga to the “Judas’ betrayal.” He condemned the publication, suggesting it was promoting a divisive agenda.
“The Bible says that it’s good when people live in unity and God sends his blessings where people live together and in harmony. Those who don’t know God are telling us in newspapers that unity is betrayal. How shameful and tragic, while the bishop is telling us that nothing is impossible when we are united. The devil has a different message against unity in our nation. May the devil be defeated,” he said.
Subsequently, on Monday, May 5, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) publicly called out The Standard newspaper over a front-page story titled “Our turn to eat,” which featured its leader, Raila Odinga, and members of his extended family.
The newspaper listed several relatives of the Odinga family who had secured positions in President Ruto’s government following a broad-based initiative. The ODM party denounced the headline as a smear campaign against Raila Odinga, accusing the media house of deliberately attempting to tarnish the former prime minister’s reputation.
“The Orange Democratic Movement has taken note of the sustained smear campaign by The Standard newspaper against the Party’s leader, Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga, and has now been extended against his entire family. We note that The Standard is determined to negate, demean, and destroy the known acts of sacrifice, nationalism, and patriotism that Odinga has undertaken at great personal risk to him and family, for the betterment of this nation,” the ODM’s statement read.
