Dr. Wanyenda Chilimo

Newspapers are considered to be a major channel of communication and source of information on trending issues on a communities’ social, economic, political and cultural development. In the year 2021, Technical University of Mombasa (TUM) received a donation of an archive of a community newspaper, named Coastweek, dated 1978 to 2018. The archive is the most complete set of the newspaper and the only copy known to exist. Furthermore, the archive presents a unique, rich historical legacy of the Coast region of Kenya as it covered news that emphasized on coastal issues including tourism, entertainment, shipping and maritime affairs, sports, community welfare and advertisements of local products.

TUM library embarked on a project to digitize the newspaper for preservation purposes and to facilitate its accessibility and utilization for scholarly research. This study therefore explores coverage of tourism, shipping and maritime sector issues in the Mombasa based Coastweek community newspaper between the years 1978-2018. Specifically, the study aimed at assessing the trend in covering tourism, shipping and maritime sector news in the newspaper archive from 1978-2018, identifying themes covered and examine the prominence of the tourism, shipping and maritime sector news in the newspaper archive.

Data was collected using informetric approach, the study of the quantitative aspects of information in all forms and format, informetric further involves the application of quantitative and statistical methods, to examine information patterns. Data for this study was analyzed using Microsoft Excel software and content analysis

The historical analysis of the coverage of tourism shipping and maritime sectors in print media is important given the significant role played by these sectors in the growth of Kenya economy and Coast region specially.