It's not lack of police officers that has given Nairobi its nick name 'Nairobbery'. Most of them however are traffic police and appear to be less focused on stopping muggers and robberies than on pulling over cars and matatus (minibuses) at random. They'll look for missing papers or a broken taillight and threaten to take the driver to the police station - or suggest "taking care of the matter here and then".

The best paid articles make the news

Most Kenyans will just pay the suggested bribe to police officers to avoid further trouble and carry on with their doings. But bribes and threats are not only present within the police force. People in the media are aware that it's not always the best story that reaches the morning paper but the best paid one, tells Tervil Okoko who is the chairman of the Kenyan Union of Journalists.

- I am the leader so I need to protect the interests of the organization, but I must also speak the truth. Corruption is a big problem in the media, he says.

Former editor of the two leading Kenyan news papers, the Standard and the Nation, Frank Ojiambo, agrees. He points out that corruption often means printing stories that incite hatred or violence between tribes or political groupings or stories being put into the bottom drawer preventing the truth about killings or marginalization from being told. And as long as people have an interest in conflict and can pay for it, conflict sensitive journalism will be hard to implement.

- We won't be able to see conflict sensitive journalism for a long time if we do not address the issue of corruption. To me that's the biggest barrier right now, states Frank Ojiambo.

Bribes, sacking and fleeing for his life

Moses Radoli has worked as a freelancer for the last two decades and has experienced being offered bribes; being suddenly sacked when digging too far into a story on corruption and even having to flee to Uganda for a while because he feared for his life. After having continuously refused bribes, he is no longer contacted by politicians asking for cooperation, but he often hears of it from his colleagues. They tell him of senior politicians, who ask journalists to write favorable stories and contact them if negative stories turn up in the news room.

- They strike a deal and my fellow journalists are kind of on a double payroll, they are working for the media house, but they are also working secretly for these politicians, he says.

But making deals with dirty politicians can also be a matter of security, explains Moses.

- When we talk about corruption, some of the fellows involved in corruption are so bad they are ready to kill to get what they want, he says.

Stories with an agenda

Another way in which politicians or private businesses make sure that their interests are reflected in the media is by passing on already written stories to the editors along with a brown envelope of money that ensures it'll be printed or broadcasted.

Tervil Okoko can often spot the stories by their unusual and less journalistic writing styles.

- I know which story has been paid for. I can tell there is something wrong here. Someone has an agenda with that, he says.

Corruption - a matter of survival

Corruption is officially forbidden since Kenya signed the Anti Corruption Act of 2003. The subject is so sensitive that the book "It's Our Turn to Eat", which accuses the former government of corruption, is banned from the bookstores' shelves. But few Kenyans haven't encountered being asked to pay bribes or being offered a bribe to keep their mouths shut about sensitive issues.

And the big gap between rich and poor makes a large group with low wages vulnerable when asked to do favors for money by the powerful class.

- When you talk about corruption you have to address the issue of pure greed, of some journalists not being able to handle temptation and you have to address the issue of survival. Some have to live off bribes because they can't make ends meet, says Frank Ojiambo.

The freelancers, who are in Kenya referred to as correspondents, sometimes have an average wage of 5000 Kenyan shillings (around 65 US dollars) a month, scarcely leaving enough for rent and food. Bribes from politicians therefore become a pure matter of getting bread on the table.

A rat to catch a rat

Little is done within the media to address the issue of corruption. The Media Council of Kenya is the institution which is supposed to regulate the media houses and media practices and thereby also tackle corruption. But the council consists of only people from the media industry leaving Frank Ojiambo with little faith in them.

- I don't believe it will go far when the people that comprise it are themselves media people. I mean you don't set a rat to catch a rat - you set a cat to catch a rat! he states.