The Standard

The Standard, English-language daily newspaper published in Nairobi, Kenya. It was established in Mombasa in 1902 as a weekly, the African Standard, by A.M. Jeevanjee, an Indian merchant. Jeevanjee hired an English editor-reporter, W.H. Tiller, to oversee the newspaper’s operations. In 1910 the paper became a daily, changed its name to the East African Standard, and moved to Nairobi, which was then fast developing as a commercial centre. It had already come under British ownership. In its early years the paper defended the interests of Kenya’s white settlers, but by the 1970s it had developed a more balanced approach to news reporting and had built a reputation for fine writing and technical excellence. After independence the paper retained the freedom to publish but was not allowed to criticize the government’s single political party or its leaders.