Social media has overtaken television as Kenya’s leading source of news, marking a decisive shift in the country’s media consumption patterns even as public trust in the media shows signs of recovery.

This is according to the state of media Kenya 2025 report released by the Media Council of Kenya as the country joined the world in marking the World Press Freedom Day.

The report, presented by MCK Chief Executive Officer David Omwoyo, shows that 27 per cent of Kenyans now consume news through social media weekly, compared to 25 per cent who rely on television and 19 per cent who rely on radio.

The findings point to a major digital crossover in Kenya’s media landscape, with social platforms now shaping public debate, breaking news habits and audience attention more strongly than traditional broadcast platforms.

“Social media has now overtaken television as the leading source of news,” Omwoyo said during the release of the report, noting that platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook and other digital channels have become key spaces for information sharing.

The survey, conducted between April 15 and 23, 2026, covered 3,774 respondents aged 15 years and above across all 47 counties. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.7 per cent at a 95 per cent confidence level.

Digital consumption is no longer growing alongside broadcast media but increasingly at its expense, the report indicates.

Daily television viewership fell to 57 per cent in 2025, down from 63 per cent in 2024, while weekly newspaper readership declined sharply from 29 per cent in 2022 to 13 per cent in 2025.

The decline in print readership is one of the strongest indicators of structural disruption in the media industry. The report describes print media as being in “accelerating retreat”, with most newspaper audiences now preferring digital formats.

At the same time, the report shows that television remains influential, particularly during prime time between 7PM and 10PM, when 73 per cent of television viewers tune in.

Citizen TV continues to dominate the television market with a 56 per cent audience share, followed by NTV at 8 per cent, KTN and Inooro TV at 7 per cent each.

Radio also remains resilient, although it is no longer the dominant news platform it once was. Radio Citizen, Radio Maisha, Kass FM and Classic 105 are among the leading stations, with listening patterns showing that 40 per cent of radio users listen for between one and three hours daily.

The report also identifies a recovery in public confidence in the media. Seventy-nine per cent of Kenyans now express “some” or “a lot” of trust in the media, up from 74.5 per cent in 2024.

Public perception of government coverage has also improved, with the proportion of Kenyans who believe the media covers government unfairly dropping from 73.6 per cent in 2024 to 46 per cent in 2025.

This improvement offers a positive signal for the media industry at a time when newsrooms are grappling with shrinking advertising revenue, digital disruption, misinformation and changing audience habits.

However, the report warns that misinformation remains one of the biggest threats to public confidence. Twenty-eight per cent of respondents cited the spread of false or misleading information as a major concern, while another 28 per cent pointed to inadequate and non-diverse coverage of key issues. Seventeen per cent cited bias in reporting.

The rise of artificial intelligence has added a new layer of concern. While 59 per cent of Kenyans are aware that AI is being used in media, 63 per cent say they cannot identify AI-generated content. The report warns that this gap between awareness and detection poses a risk to information integrity and strengthens the case for urgent media literacy programmes.

“Nearly two-thirds of Kenyans cannot identify AI-generated content, even as a majority are aware that AI is being used in media,” the report states, describing AI literacy as an urgent priority for Kenya’s media ecosystem.

This year’s World Press Freedom Day is being marked globally under the theme “Shaping a Future at Peace: Promoting Press Freedom for Human Rights, Development, and Security”, with UNESCO hosting the global conference in Lusaka, Zambia.

The Kenyan findings therefore come at a critical moment for the media industry. While trust is recovering and audiences still rely on journalism for credible information, the centre of gravity has shifted decisively to digital platforms.

The report’s central message is clear: Kenya’s media is still trusted, but the audience has moved. Newsrooms that fail to adapt to digital habits, confront misinformation and invest in responsible use of AI risk losing not just audiences, but influence.

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