Hundreds To Lose Jobs In Nation Media Group Mass Firing

The Nation Media Group (NMG) is threatening to cut down the number of its workforce in a notice to staff on Wednesday, November 30.

The Group's Chief Executive Officer Stephen Gitagama stated in the notice seen by Viral Tea that the mass redundancies had to be made in a bid to align itself with the current market environment.

The media house which runs Daily Nation, NTV, Taifa Leo, Business Daily, Nation FM and online publishers such as Nairobi News had restructured itself to boost its business transformation agenda to assure success in the long term.

The consequences of the reorganisation, however, would be the mass firing of staff.

"At the beginning of this month, we announced changes to accelerate our business transformation agenda to assure our success in the long term and the sustainability of our journalism. I want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank each one of you for the role you continue to play in our transformation journey with diligence, commitment and passion," the CEO stated.

"Regrettably, this refocus will result in a reorganisation of our workforce. This is an extremely difficult decision in view of the prevailing business environment. This exercise will be carried out with utmost dignity and in accordance with the Labour Laws of Kenya. We will strive to provide all the necessary support to help those affected to manage the transition."

Gitagama expressed that the changes would have diverse effects on its staff but expressed confidence that NMG was moving in the right direction.

"While these changes are maybe unsettling, I am confident that we are collectively moving in the right direction. I, therefore, call upon each one of us to embrace the changes and champion our mission as we build the NMG of the future. I look forward to your support in the days ahead," he added.

The media house had previously advertised the position of a Local Content Editor, who will be based in Nakuru. The successful candidate would be responsible for creating high-quality, geo-targeted, digital content that will resonate with local audiences.

A meeting attended by Gitagama and Board Chairman Wilfred Kiboro saw NTV's Joe Ageyo appointed the Group's Editorial Director (GED) in place of Mutuma Mathiu, who was demoted to the Consulting Editor (CE) role.

Ageyo then made his first changes, appointing Bernard Mwinzi, formerly the Managing Editor of the Daily Nation, to the role of Managing Editor of Value-Added Content and Pamella Sittoni, the former Executive Editor of Partnerships, to the Executive Editor of Daily Nation.

NMG has joined a terrifying Kenyan media atmosphere that has seen media houses such as Standard Media Group (SMG) and BBC planning to fire their staff en masse, with reports indicating a salary crisis among the latter, almost four months since Viral Tea's whistleblower on the salary crisis on the Mombasa Road-based media house.