Editor's Review

The response came after Ruto accused the Standard Newspaper of propaganda and blackmail.

The Standard Newspaper cheekily responded to President William Ruto after he accused the publication of consistently attacking him and his administration. 

In a social media post shared on Wednesday, June 24, the Standard Media Group used a curated photo of President Ruto reading a sample of their newspaper.

The photo was used as a marketing gimmick with the caption 'Even the President reads The Standard'.

The newspaper further teased that it would be publishing its paper eight days a week, after the Head of State told it that it could publish propaganda about him eight days a week.

"Due to overwhelming demand, we are printing The Standard eight days a week to meet our demand. Orders from above. Laughing out loud!" one of the graphic posters read.

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A file photo of the graphics shared by the Standard Media Group.

The Standard maintained that its publication was trusted, reliable and respected. The publication christened itself as a bold newspaper and shared a screenshot of Ruto's tweet.

Earlier, President Ruto lashed out at former Baringo Senator, Gideon Moi, who owns the media group, and accused the newspaper of publishing falsehoods against him and his government almost every day of the week.

The Head of State alleged that the newspaper headlines were meant to blackmail him and added that he would not give in.

"Blackmail to yield to your greed? Never! Kenya belongs to all Kenyans, not you alone. Try doing it eight days a week. Do your worst," Rutto wrote.

The tweet marked the culmination of a prolonged battle between the Standard Media Group and the Kenya Kwanza administration.

Several senior government officials have lashed out at the media house for publishing misleading news against the state and allegedly spreading propaganda.

Notably, the Media Council of Kenya called out the publication for publishing unverified news about the saga involving former Cabinet Secretary Raphael Tuju's disappearance.

MCK questioned why the media house chose to go with a headline claiming that Tuju had been abducted, only for the former CS to reappear and disclose that he had gone into hiding on his own volition.