HiviSasa
Hivisasa (or "Hivisasa.com") is an online, local, county-level Kenyan newspaper tailored for the mobile web. It sources all its news stories from local citizen reporters (i.e., anyone who wants to report the news) who are paid via mobile-money for each article they publish. Hivisasa is the most far-reaching and cost-effective news model available in Kenya. Funded by the internet startup seed fund 88mph, Hivisasa has been running since early 2014. "Hivi sasa" can be translated into "right now" in Kiswahili.
As of January 2015, Hivisasa publishes more than 80 articles daily written by more than 1,340 citizen reporters.
The model
Accessibility
Hivisasa can be accessed from all internet-enabled phones, ranging from low-end camera phones to high-end smartphones.
Content
All content on Hivisasa is written by local citizen reporters, and all topics are accepted. The most prominent topics are crime, politics, and social justice. To write for Hivisasa, no prior qualifications are needed; only a camera phone and basic writing skills are required. After signing up on the webpage, citizen reporters can then write articles with a 500-word limit. Professional journalists/editors curate the incoming articles and select the best ones for publication. If a citizen reporter's article is published, the reporter is paid via the mobile money system M-Pesa. Payment is made weekly.
Current state
In 2014, Hivisasa saw a rapid increase in both page views and citizen reporters. In August, Hivisasa expanded from Nakuru County to Kiambu County and, during August–October 2014, the team expanded operations to Kisumu, Kisii, and Machakos Counties.
See also
- Citizen journalism
- Kenya
- Local news
- Counties of Kenya
- M-Pesa
- Mobile technology
- Telecommunications in Kenya
Further information
- Map of newspapers in Kenya
- "Kenya’s mobile phone subscribers now over 30 million, penetration 77%", techzim.co.zw
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