Phew, what a year! Especially with the dramatic conclusion or should I say rigging of the Kenyan elections. I have been scouring the internet for the lastest news, but a media gag has been issued on live updates. Needless to say,there is a news blackout and all that is available is outdated news. That would have been understandable, a decade ago when BBC's FOCUS ON AFRICA Program ruled the airwaves. But with the advent of the internet, and with it 24 hours news feed, the worst that can happen is a news blackout.
Considering that I'm a verocious news consumer, I was shocked to find out about the gag. It reminded me of my experience in China last year, where I had spent three weeks without any 'reliable' news from some of the major global news outlets like the BBC or New York Times. China is well known for censoring its media, but to block access to BBC online, was a little bit out of this world for me.
The likes of BBC and the New York Time are usually my number one stop when I need a quick fix to my news appetite, and has no time to browse the 10+ 'essentials' that usually usher in my day.
Anyhow, 2007 was a very exhilarating year full of drama, and one of immense personal and professional growth for me.
I thus wish all and sundry a very happy 2008.
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This would probably annoy me to no end, and freak me out a little, too. Having lived only in the US and never visited a place with major media censorship, I've never experienced anything like that. Are you actually in Kenya, or are they blocking the Kenya news in South Africa too (I checked your profile and it says you're in SA, but that doesn't mean you weren't in Kenya)?
I also read the BBC online religiously, and have been wondering if my college Swahili teacher's family is OK and if she's in the US still or if she went back to Kenya after graduating. She was a Kikuyu from one of the more rural areas. I was actually a bit shocked when I heard the news about the outbreak of violence. Kenya's always been fairly stable in my lifetime.
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