How press freedom is eroding as media struggles to survive by GORDON OSEN Newspapers on display in a stand in Nairobi. There is concerns that circulation of newspaper and dwindling advertising revenue is exposing the media to manipulation and intimidation by the state, private business. Image: FILE • The freedom to hold the powerful accountable is constrained by business interests As the world celebrates Press Freedom Day today, meaningful independence remains elusive to Kenyan media despite improvement over the past decade. The sector’s freedom is undermined by threats and attacks on individual reporters, withholding of advertisements and deliberate nonpayment of advertising debt by state institutions.