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Journalists from Standard Media Group were Saturday, May 31, denied access to State House to cover the state visit by Nataša Pirc Musar of Slovenia.
Scribes who were at State House for the event confirmed that while those from all other media houses were granted access, those from the Mombasa Road-based media house were not allowed in.
They noted that it appears that specific instructions were issued to block those from Standard Media Group.
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How others were allowed in & KTN journalists blocked from accessing State House
Long wait
The journalists received official invite to provide coverage for the event and arrived in time at State House's gate D where journalists were to undergo verification before being granted access.
After a long wait that lasted more than three hours, two police officers (one in uniform and the other in plain clothes) came to the gate with a list which they used to allow the journalists in to cover the event.
The list had all the journalists except those from the media house's KTN.
One of the police officers sought to know the fate of those that remained behind with the journalists eagerly confirming that the were from KTN.
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State House was yet to issue a statement in relation to the incident that raised concerns about potential discrimination, based on the Standard Group coverage of various issues in the country, specifically those touching on the government.
Standard Media Group's critical coverage of Ruto's administration
The media house has been unrelenting in its critical coverage of the government.
President William Ruto has on numerous occasions fingered The Standard newspaper, expressing his displeasure with some of the publication's headlines.
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It bold headlines and critical coverage has seen the media house miss out on government advertising revenue with the then Broadcasting Principal Secretary (PS) Edward Kisiang'ani cancelling Standard Media Group’s media contract with the Ministry of Irrigation due to its critical coverage.
The move was widely seen as an attempt to choke the media giant of cash and bring it to its knees or possibly force it to play along with favourable report that may not reflect the reality.