AMERICA'S FIRST KENYAN NEWSPAPER

New America Media - Don’t tell Paul Waithaka that the newspaper is an old medium. While many newspapers are struggling with cutbacks and layoffs, Waithaka has just published the first print issue of the Kenya Monitor, a Boston-based monthly newspaper for Kenyans in the United States. . .

Waithaka has printed 7,000 copies and distributed most of them through churches attended by Kenyan Americans. There a more than 30 Kenyan churches in the New England area, he says. He’s also sent copies to churches in other states like California and Georgia that have large Kenyan congregations. Waithaka says he gets his inspiration from other ethnic media.

“Other ethnic communities like the Chinese and the Latinos do have the CNNs of the world and the Boston Globe, but they tend to listen to and communicate better through their own media.”

Waithaka acknowledges the power of the Internet in bringing communities together, so he is also launching a Web site, which he says would be updated more frequently.