The grey, two-story stone villa near the center of Nairobi once served as the headquarters for British troops operating against Mau Mau terrorists. Today the same building bustles with Africans; a few of them are even ex-Mau Mau. Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Malawi the list of their homelands reads like a roster of emergent nations. They have little in common except their color, their knowledge of English, and their burning desire to learn the techniques of journalism.
The Nairobi Press Institute, which started its sixth six-month course in June, is Africa's first full-fledged journalism school for native Africans. Founded...