Standard Group launches ‘The Counties’ weekly

By Standard Team

KENYA: On Friday at newspaper selling points countywide you will find a copy of the fresh new title, The Counties, which now takes over from Standard Group’s ground-breaking The County Weekly.

With an improved, rich and compelling content range and fresh design that makes navigation easier and faster, The Counties comes to you as a weekly product retailing at Sh35.

The Counties has been developed to give it even more relevance to the new devolved governance units.

This new product of The Standard Group is true to our signature boldness, which led us to being the first — and still the only mainstream media house so far — to invest in a medium for the counties and their people. It is not just about investment and business opportunities but also the desire to give the people and their leaders a medium to follow what is happening around them and exchange views on what ought to be done to make lives better.

For a start, The Counties will come in five different editions, depending on where you are. To achieve this we have clustered the 47 counties into five regions, which will each have significant exclusive content at its readers. It comes a little over two years since the first issue of the now defunct The County Weekly, which rolled off the presses on July 4, 2011, and reflects the strides taken since the country embarked on the road to devolution. It rides on the experience and strengths built over time and is the product of extensive market research across the country.

Efforts and resources that have gone into this venture are further affirmation of the Standard Group’s commitment to the nation’s dream of a prosperous future by empowering citizens to participate in decisions and actions that promote their social and economic affairs.

To this end, a number of changes have been introduced and packaged in a crispier, better-designed format. The Counties have been clustered on the basis of shared boundaries, cultures, political and social traditions, as well as economic and developmental ties.

We have new sections such as Governor’s Forum, which will offer governors a platform to articulate their visions, lay out development agenda and answer burning issues raised by those they govern. This will also ensure people are able to hold their leaders at county level to account.

Let’s grow together

In Focus on Devolution, we will seek to ensure the process is rolled out in a transparent and cost-effective manner while empowering Kenyans to take charge of their destiny.

For the first time, adequate space will be provided for news stories from courts in counties. This will not only open up the judicial system to public scrutiny right from the grassroots, but also serve to entrench the rule of law.

In recognition of the central place that agriculture will continue to command in the foreseeable future, The Counties devotes considerable space to news and features touching on farming as well as providing up-to-date information on commodity prices.

Another novel addition is County Life, a spread that celebrates social life by featuring weddings that would normally not make it to TV screens or the pages of national newspapers. Here, you will also find a weekly page on successful chamas around the counties.

We promise to cover the counties more than any other media house. Our word is our bond. Get yourself a copy of the Standard Group’s voice for the counties.

Buy and enjoy The Counties whose slogan is ‘Closer to You’. It is indeed closer to you, so let us think, work and grow together.