16. Financial Journalism

The Code says journalists should not use financial information they receive in advance of its general publication for their own benefit. They should not also pass the same information to others. The Code also says journalists should not write about shares, securities and other market instruments in whose performance they know they or their close friends have a significant financial interest, without disclosing the interest to the editor. It further says journalists should not buy or sell, directly through nominees or agents, shares or securities and other market instruments about which they intend to write in the near future.

Though financial journalism in Kenya is blossoming there has been no complaint of violation of this Code by practitioners. Such a complaint caused a scandal in Britain in 2000 when the Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan bought substantial shares of a company called Viglen Technology only one day before its share prices rocketed. Did he have inside information before he bought the shares? The scandal was exposed by the Daily Mirror’s biggest rival The Sun which called for Morgan’s resignation. Following The Sun’s story Morgan was summoned by the o executives of the Daily Mirror and asked to reveal all his share dealings since he became the editor.

He now reveals what happened in his book and says: “I told them the circumstances behind the Viglen purchase and they seemed satisfied. I also explained that both my broker and one of my cousins who occasionally trades with him had bought Viglen shares a few weeks before I did. And that my uncle had also recommended them only last week.”[1] According to Bond the Sun’s expose was followed by investigations by both the Press Complaints Commission and the Government’s Department of Trade and Industry as well as the Stock Exchange which monitors transactions in quoted companies for evidence of insider dealings.[2] Bond claims that calls for Morgan’s resignation went as far as the House of Commons threatening the then 34 year old editor who had reestablished he Daily Mirror as an “intelligent populist force after the title nearly folded.”[3]

Financial journalism in Kenya has been the weakest part of the profession for a very long time. Business pages were produced by ordinary reporters who neither impressed economists nor financial experts. Today things have changed and business pages are extremely busy. As Levin (1997) observes one of the reasons why there are not many reporters interested in financial journalism is that it is quantitative.[4] By financial journalism he means all the writing that has to do in a very direct way or a very basic way with money or finance. But he argues that the same kind of qualities that are required for good financial journalism are required for good journalism of all kinds.[5]

According to Burton (2002) financial journalism is an “odd” subject of the media and its practitioners in America are sometimes better paid than their peers in other branches of the profession, partly because they are assumed to have some special knowledge and are less likely to panic at the sight of sets of numbers.[6] He criticizes financial journalists for not being quick enough in blowing the whistle on the successions of corporate scandals that have been making headlines in the United States.[7]

In Kenya there are many corporate scandals that go undetected for the failure of financial journalists to come up with appropriate exposes. Ordinary wananchi are conned by unscrupulous crooks day in and day out without the protection of financial journalists. Indeed savers lost millions in the scandal involving Trade Bank before any financial journalist sounded and alarm bell. Financial journalists all over the world, including Kenya, may be a breed of special people with special quantitative skills but they will most certainly be better journalists if they put their skills in investigative aspects.

It may be true that the Code only concerns itself with the use and abuse of financial information particularly shares and securities;.but I believe financial journalism covers a much wider area – an area that makes it possible for the production of all the business and financial pages and programmes which in Kenya are improving everyday. Financial shenanigans, however, need to be the concern of financial journalists who must see their role as that of exposing dirty deals in business and financial circles.

Kenyan financial journalism is more reportorial than investigative and this is a big challenge for the experts in the field. The kind of investigative journalism on business and financial matters which is boldly conducted by The Private Eye of Britain could be most welcome in Kenya when journalists become courageous enough to publish and be damned. Burton believes financial journalism as it is practiced today is more of a “mouthpiece for companies than as their tormentor.”[8] This is particularly so in the case of Kenya where improvement of business reporting has not been accompanied by critical analysis of the ugly pictures behind what readers, viewers and listeners are fed with everyday.

One of the major reasons for uncritical financial journalism in Kenya is the fact that big businesses keep media houses alive through advertisement. Both editors and proprietors are reluctant to bite the hand that feeds them. Besides that there is a bit of corruption in the name of hospitality that takes place all the time. Junkets are commonplace and gifts during Christmas time are accepted by senior editors from the most powerful companies. For obvious reasons this Code is more restrictive that permissive. Editors are always watchful not to offend proprietors and proprietors always protect colleagues in business. It is a vicious circle.

In Britain the Press Complaints Commission has given its members what it calls “Private Eye” Test to determine what to and not publish in financial journalism. The test says: If it would embarrass a journalist to read about his or her action in “Private Eye” and at the same time undermine the integrity of the newspaper, then don’t do it.”[9] Whether the Media Council of Kenya should introduce such a ruling which seems to amounts to self censorship, journalism scholars should discuss.

The other reason that makes financial journalism in Kenya attractive is the fact that Kenyans have become some sort of capitalists. Besides politics they are keenly interested in reading about shares in the Nairobi Stock Exchange. More and more of them are interested in matters concerning insurance and pension policies. They are also interested in stories about guiding them to make sensible savings.

So any journalist who can interpret intricate figures involved in these matters into simple and understandable common language, can qualify to be called financial journalist. Freelance journalists who understand money matters will always sell their stories more easily than those who write about crime and politics which are very crowded areas. All in all financial journalism in Kenya seems to be still in its embryonic stages and until it develops to include serious exposes in business and financial giants it will still remain an infant in the profession.



[1] Morgan, Piers. Insider. Ebury Press in Great Britain. 2005.
[2] Bond, Simon “Insider Trading Scandal Roils Already Nasty Tabloid Slugfest” in Time Magazine on Website. Visited in 2007.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Levin, Doran. “Everything We Write Is Rooted in Money. Learn to Follow The Buck” in Detroit Free Press .1997.
[5] Ibid
[6] Burton, P.S. “Financial Journalism: A very Small Cog” in Counter Punch Newsletter on July 30th 2002.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid
[9] From the Press Complaints Commission’s “Financial Journalism Best Practice” Note 2005.