Ciru Muriuki Opens Up On Being Fired From BBC After 5 Years

Celebrated Kenyan media personality, Ciru Muriuki, on Thursday, June 1 shared her experience of being laid off from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

In a vlog she shared online, Muriuki revealed that she was retrenched in 2022 after working for the BBC for five years, adding that she was one of the hundreds of staff whose roles would be deemed redundant.

She noted that she was hesitant to talk about it at first owing to the presumed shame that comes with one losing his or her job, but summoned the courage to talk about it months later.

“Last year, they let the larger staff know that they wanted to take a different direction, to do a digital-first approach and as a result, some roles would be made redundant. Right now, I am an unemployed journalist.

Collage of media personality, Ciru Muriuki. /FILE

"One of the reasons why I wanted to talk about this is because people think that there is some kind of shame in acknowledging that you’ve lost your job. And…there isn’t," she opened up.

Muriuki acknowledged the tough economic times that have seen thousands of Kenyans lose their jobs, including her colleagues who worked with her at the British state broadcaster.

"This is a really tough economic time and people I know- friends that I love and respect- the same thing happened to them from the same organization.

"I know people that have been retrenched or laid off from other larger organizations, from local organizations as well. This is something that is happening across the world,” she added.

She revealed that since her retrenchment, she has ventured fully into content creation, which she hopes to thrive in, having lost a job where she was accustomed to paychecks every month for years on end.

Muriuki promised to offer advice to her followers on the steps to take after losing their job as well as those who have been unemployed and job-hunting for long periods.

“So in the weeks moving forward, weekly, we’ll be talking about how to survive having lost your job or even though you’ve been unemployed and you’re trying to look for a job for the longest time, that’s something I also hope to be able to talk about. I feel like I have this platform for a reason and if I’m not using it to be useful and helpful, then I’m not really doing anything with it,” she added.

At BBC, Muriuki was a broadcast journalist who hosted an interactive news show. She added that it was a shock to her system after receiving a regular paycheck for over 10 years and has had to make lifestyle adjustments and really think about how she’s spending money.

She, however, said that this retrenchment opened her up to see the many opportunities that exist to make an income, including content creation and entrepreneurship.

“Being laid off has wakened me to the opportunities that are out there…there are so many opportunities to make money. Content creation is big. Entrepreneurship is big…if you have been sitting in your house and have tarmacked, there are other ways to go," she advised.

BBC on September 29, 2022, dominated global headlines over its intention to fire over 380 journalists in its offices across the world, including its bureau in Nairobi, while proposing to initiate a digital structural transformation of the World Service with the aim of serving global audiences better.

"We need to immediately reduce our spend on international news content and services by £28.5m, and prioritise budget and resources on the content and platforms that will provide us with the best foundations for the future in each language service as we continue to evolve and develop our digital offer just as our audiences and markets evolve.

“We expect there will be reduction of around 380 roles in total around the world, including the UK. This total number also includes roles in news Content and News output, as well as Operations,” BBC World Service Director Liliane Landor stated in an email seen by Viral Tea.

BBC's action led to a flurry of Kenyan media houses following suit with notices of their own regarding mass firings affecting thousands of journalists in what morphed into a crisis within the country's media industry.