Former Standard Media Editor Lands Top Job At Global Media House

Standard Media Group (SMG) Editor Lilian Aluanga has joined the Global Press, a non-profit organization based in the United States (US) and serving multiple countries.

Aluanga, who was a Continuity Editor at the Group was announced on Thursday, March 30 as the new regional editor for Africa at GP, the producer of the Global Press Journal.

In her new role, she will manage regional coverage of Africa, which includes twenty reporters across the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Aluanga will also lead Global Press Journal’s team of reporters in Haiti.

“I feel honoured and excited to join the Global Press team as regional editor for Africa. I look forward to working with this exceptional multicultural team in telling impactful stories to create global awareness on issues affecting communities across the world," she was quoted by The Standard.

A portrait of former Standard Group Editor Lilian Aluanga. /STANDARD DIGITAL

SMG’s Editor-in-Chief Ochieng Rapuro described the move as a restatement of the Group as the undisputed home of editorial talent. He praised Aluanga as an important pillar of the Group's transformational journey.  

“We are delighted that she will continue to define the future of journalism the world over. We take great consolation in the fact that she has been a great mentor to our upcoming journalists, and we are certain they will take after her in the excellence of both storytelling and newsroom leadership,” he said.

Aluanga has worked at The Standard for the last 17 years, rising through the ranks from an intern, a reporter, county editor, a national news editor and eventually to a continuity editor for the converged, digital-first newsroom. 

During that period, she bagged the CNN Africa Journalist of the Year award for her health reporting and was a nominee and finalist for various fellowships including Arizona State’s Hubert H. Humphrey fellowship, and the Knight Science Journalism program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). 

She is joining GP alongside another Kenyan journalist, Ciku Kimeria who was announced as the new story editor for the African team. Before this appointment, Kimeria served as the Editor of Quartz Africa, where she reported on topics from the perils of travelling with an African passport to Africa’s first NFT art collections, and has also written for African Arguments, OkayAfrica, and The Africa Report.  

“We’re thrilled to add these incredible editors to the ranks of the distinguished journalists on the Global Press team. As a growing independent news source, we believe that local women journalists are the best, most proximate storytellers to report news of their communities to an international audience.

"Bringing highly experienced editors like Lillian Aluanga and Ciku Kimeria onboard is essential to our team’s growth and success,” said Shanté Cosme, Global Press’ Chief Content Officer. 

The pair also join Ndinda Kioko, a long-time Global Press Journal editor, as part of the all-women leadership team based in Nairobi.

Aluanga's exit comes amidst a massive loss of talent due to a financial crisis affecting the media house, aggravated by the mass firing exercise which was understood to have slowed down after the company discovered that it did not have the requisite finances to pay laid-off staff, giving them temporary relief.