The Nation Media Group (NMG) has fired three senior journalists including two anchors and a reporter in the latest wave of lay-offs in the Kenyan media industry.
The three includes NTV Sports editor and anchor Watson Karuma, Swahili anchor Kartun Juma and business reporter Alex Mwangi.
Kahawa Tungu understands that the staffers were declared redundant and notified of the same on Thursday, February 10, 2022.
After receiving their letters, sources in the know claim, Karuma and Juma exited the company’s WhatsApp group without a word, apparently in protest of the management’s decision.
Apparently, the sacking followed a protracted row over workload. The affected journalists are said to have been forced to take up extra duties, previously held by sacked colleagues, without a salary increase. They blame their troubles on a new entrant in the management’s top leadership.
Read: “Talent Killers!” Jalang’o Criticizes former Employer Mediamax Over Spate of Layoffs
“Only Alex said his goodbyes, Kaltun and Watson just left. But we knew that they had been demoralised by the demands which the boss has put on them. It’s quite unfair if you ask me,” a source told a local news outlet.
“It’s hard right now because the staff is demoralized. After the last lot left, the company did not hire for those roles, now people were being given extra work without increased pay.”
The management has reportedly made little effort to bring in new talent after the last layoffs that affected a number of top journalists.
The latest layoffs are touted as an attempt by the media house to push out seasoned journalists, paid hefty salaries, to create room for new talent, a cost-cutting strategy that has been adopted by several media houses amid dwindling fortunes during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Read Also: NTV Anchor Ken Mijungu Fired
Karuma joined NTV in 2005 as a budding journalist and rose through the ranks to the editor role. On the other hand, Juma made her debut on NTV in 2018 and has amassed a wealth of experience over the last four years.
Other journalists fired at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 include Ken Mijungu, Debarl Inea, Harith Salim, Brenda Wanga among others. Mijungu, Inea and Salim have since found a new home at KTN and KBC respectively.
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