This archive report was first published on 11 September 2019.
Victor Kinuthia's Meteoric Rise ¶
Victor Kinuthia, a reporter at Inooro TV, a 24-hour Kikuyu vernacular station owned by Royal Media Services, has been appointed to the Citizen TV morning show, Sema na Citizen, which airs every morning from 10am.
On Tuesday, Kinuthia received an unexpected call from the BBC World Service radio in London, who wanted to do an interview with him in the evening. He agreed, and the interview left him even more exhilarated.
On Monday night, Kinuthia had been asked to go live on Citizen TV as MP Nyoro was being arrested in Murang'a. Not one to shy away from a challenge, Victor took the bull by the horns and managed to convince lawmakers who had accompanied Nyoro to comment on the late-night standoff.
Hours after his nail-biting experience, his name was trending on Twitter with a section of Kenyans criticizing him for not being fluent in English. However, in an unexpected turn of events, his phone started blowing up with calls from colleagues at Royal Media Services and other media stations, as well as family and friends, all applauding him for his bravery and encouraging him not to let online trolls put him down.
His Editorial Director, Joe Ageyo, replied to one of the critics, saying, 'I've done this for 21 years and I can tell you it's no walk in the park. Victor found himself in a breaking news situation and gave it his best - his first live report of that kind. He's destined for greatness. Truly proud of him.'
Top journalists in the industry, including Hussein Mohammed, Yvonne Okwara, Victoria Rubadiri, and Francis Gachuri, were also rooting for him.
MP Nyoro, who had also been released from police custody with no charges preferred against him, expressed his dismay over Kinuthia's experience online, saying, 'Victor Kinuthia is my constituent in Kiharu and many times I appear on such a show when we are using vernacular language and I also get a lot of backlash... unaongea Kizungu inakaa Kikuyu... but I can't change who I am... we must be proud of our identities and where we come from... so I want to tell Victor he is one of the best vernacular reporters on Inooro TV... he was just holding brief the other side.'
On September 11, 2019, Kinuthia's story of encouragement was hitting airwaves across the world, as he told Citizen Digital, 'My story of encouragement will be hitting airwaves across the world in 2 hours time. Stay tuned n be blessed for the continued support.'
