President William Ruto’s recent criticism of Standard Group on X has reignited debate about the relationship between political power and the media in Kenya. While unease between presidents and the media is not new in Kenya, the latest remarks come at a time when social media has emerged as a powerful arena for shaping, contesting, and amplifying political narratives.   

On June 24, President Ruto accused Standard Group owner Gideon Moi of attempting to blackmail him through persistent negative media coverage targeting his administration. In an explosive tweet, President Ruto launched a brazen attack on Standard Group, accusing the media house of using negative headlines to allegedly blackmail his administration. The media house rejected the allegations and defended its editorial independence.   

The confrontation between the President and the media house follows months of increasingly critical coverage of the Kenya Kwanza administration amid economic challenges, public protests, governance concerns, and declining public trust.   

Historically, former Presidents have also hit back when they came under pressure. Daniel Arap Moi regularly accused sections of the media of undermining national stability. Mwai Kibaki occasionally expressed frustration with media criticism, though he maintained a more restrained public posture, and Uhuru Kenyatta had periodic clashes with media houses over government performance. It is also worth noting that much of the media is owned by political leaders or those close to them.  

This is not a Kenyan thing, but it echoes a broader global trend in which political leaders increasingly bypass traditional media gatekeeping institutions and channels, engaging critics directly on social media platforms.  

In the U.S. last year, President Donald Trump cut off White House access to the Associated Press because the news organisation refused to use the name “Gulf of America” instead of “Gulf of Mexico”.  

Over the last 12 months, President Trump has referred to a female Bloomberg News reporter as “piggy” and to news coverage of the war in Iran as “almost treasonous”. The U.S. President has pressed Congress to rescind previously approved funding for public broadcasters NPR and PBS.   

He also called for television networks he dislikes to lose their license to broadcast and threatened to jail a reporter (or reporters) if they don’t reveal confidential sources for reporting on the war in Iran. President Trump also had his lawyer send letters to CNN and the New York Times threatening to sue over their reporting on the U.S.’s June 2025 bombing campaign in Iran, and filed lawsuits against the Wall Street Journal, the Times and the BBC.   

Back home, President Ruto’s remarks mark one of the strongest public attacks by the President against a mainstream media house since assuming office in September 2022. Several of President Ruto’s allies have repeatedly criticised sections of the media over their coverage of the Kenya Kwanza administration.   

Kenya’s regulatory framework recognises the rapidly evolving media ecosystem, shaped by technological innovation and shifting patterns of information production, distribution, and consumption. Digital transformation across the public and private sectors continues at an unprecedented pace. At the same time, press freedom faces growing pressure, both from emerging technologies such as generative AI and from governments that, despite their democratic character, increasingly adopt practices that undermine independent journalism.  

In many contexts, journalism is still treated as a threat by authorities that prefer minimal scrutiny and limited public accountability.  

A recent Economist report, “Gag Today, Graft Tomorrow,” shows that several democratic countries, including the U.S., some European Union (EU) member states, and parts of Asia, have begun employing tactics historically associated with authoritarian regimes to suppress the media. These include rhetorical attacks portraying critical journalists as national threats, the use of non-media laws to penalise media organisations, and the framing of journalists as criminals to discredit their work.  

Similar patterns are evident in Kenya. The Kenya Kwanza administration entered office with rhetoric suggesting that the media had opposed its political rise, were unpatriotic, or lacked competence.  

After assuming power in 2022, the government amplified blogger networks that often targeted journalists through intimidation, disparagement, and doxxing, elevating these actors as alternative conduits of “credible” information. Over time, this pressure environment contributed to reduced editorial independence among some media houses.   

While the total number of violations shows a gradual decline in certain restrictive measures, such as arrests and denial of access, physical assaults, threats, and intimidation remain the most common forms of abuse.   

With the recent developments, it is not whether the media house is right or wrong in its coverage, nor whether President Ruto is justified in responding. Rather, the recent development highlights a deeper question: How should political leaders engage with a media that holds them to account?