This archive report was first published on 22 August 2020.
Kenya's media landscape is witnessing a fresh round of realignment, with several media houses engaging in a game of musical chairs. The recent restructuring at Nation Media Group (NMG) has led to a number of senior editors leaving the company, but it seems that their doors have been opened by other media houses.
When one media house closes its doors on journalists, others are often quick to open theirs, offering a chance for those seen as good talent to join their ranks. However, this talent poaching comes with a catch - the salary and position negotiation of the departing journalists is weakened, giving media houses a chance to get top talent at a bargain.
One such example is Peter Leftie and Wanyonyi Wambilianga, who were pushed from the Nation newspaper newsdesk and have found a new home at the People Daily, owned by Mediamax Network Ltd. Others have been rehired by NMG on contracts to offer various editorial services.
Meanwhile, Nation was forced to raid Standard newspaper to strengthen its team, making away with Standard newspaper news editor Alex Ndegwa, who takes over as news editor at Daily Nation. His colleagues at Standard held a farewell party for him on 11th August, his last day at the I&M newsroom.
Others who have found soft landings include Felix Odiwuor (Jalang'o), who was sacked from Milele FM but landed at Radio Africa in a few days. Former K24 TV anchor and Managing Editor in charge of Kiswahili Franklin Wambugu has finally found a job 10 months after being sacked from the television station. He is now the Communications and Public Relations Officer at the Kiambu County Government.
Former Nation Media Group Chief Librarian Evans Sasaka, who was among senior employees who lost their jobs in the NMG restructuring, has been appointed the assistant director for records management at the Kakamega County. Former K24 sport anchor Tony Kwalanda joined Red Cross-owned station Switch TV days after being fired, as did his colleague at K24 on the news side Nancy Onyancha.
