Rita Tinina Was To Make Comeback On NTV Screens Before Death- Joe Ageyo

Nation Media Group (NMG) Editor-in-Chief Joe Ageyo has revealed that the late renowned journalist Rita Tinina was meant to make an on-air debut at NTV this week for the first time since she rejoined the regional media house in October 2023.

In a heartwarming tribute, Ageyo revealed that he reached out to Tinina with the idea of a return to NTV and successfully managed to convince her to join the Twin Towers after trying...and failing.

That was in September 2023, the same month Ageyo was promoted to the position of Editor-in-Chief from the Group Editorial Director, a post he landed in November 2022 from the Editorial Director-Broadcasting which he got when he joined the media house in April 2022.

At the time, Ageyo revealed that he was in the middle of a newsroom organisation whereby the idea of convergence had sought to have NMG's various newsrooms collapsed into one centralised operation and re-orienting its journalism in response to changing audience needs.

"It was clear to me that in every space I needed to have, not just seasoned hands, but dependable professionals who would keep the ship steady at every turn.

"Once again, I reached out to Rita and for the first time in her career, and after many previous failed attempts, I managed to convince her to take up an editor role. The rest, as they say, is history," he stated in his tribute in part.

According to the former Citizen TV Editorial Director, Tinina was meant to finalise a special report which would have marked her on-air debut, adding that she had also offered to help him put together a story he was working on.

This was however not the first time the two crossed paths as Ageyo turned to Tinina for help when he left NTV to join Standard Group Limited's KTN in 2012, a few months before the 2013 general elections, with the desire for a dependable team of journalists. 

"With just a few months to a transition election, I had to get a plug-and-play 'A' squad. Rita was top on my list. When I requested her to come and help me on my mission, she never hesitated, never argued and never bargained for her salary, just get me a good deal', she said, and a few days later she resigned and came on board. And for the following five years, we did some amazing journalism and even launched a news channel, for which she became a key pillar," he added.

Ageyo would once again poach her when he joined NMG from the Royal Media Services (RMS), a move that took place without knowledge from members of the public who followed her for years on TV until Viral Tea became the first media house in Kenya to report on her new move.

While mourning the journalist, Joe Ageyo remarked that he and Rita met more than 23 years ago, leading to a working relationship across different projects that included coverage of the historic Kenyan cases at The Hague, terming her his 'partner in crime'.

"Like a sponge, her brain soaked in tonnes of information – including the legal rigmarole of an international trial. When she finally came in front of the camera, she was pure class - no uh, um......, no bla bla bla...no stuttering and no hesitation. She had all her lines in the right places and needed no teleprompter to keep the show together. She was a natural, like a turtle in water," he went on.

Ageyo also reminisced about Tinina working as his lead reporter when he produced NTV's County Edition between 2010 and 2012, hailing her meticulous attention to detail no matter what part of Kenya she went to.

"Within minutes of arriving in any county, she would get her bearing and by evening she'd give reports from any corner of the county in such detail, you'd have been forgiven to think she'd grown up there. Indeed, she even made an attempt to speak a word or two from every county were visited," he went on, hailing her for sharpening her skills in video editing which was a pain in the neck then amongst TV reporters.

Nicknaming her 'Masai', Ageyo remembered the late Tinina as a lover of environment, nature and in particular, animals, whether wild or domestic...aside from the big elections and country-shaking cases among other political events that she covered with military precision.

"In fact, one of the stories that gave her the most satisfaction was when she traced a bunch of cats that had been left on their own following the death of Starehe Boys' Centre founder, Geoffrey Griffins, in 2005. Yes, Rita could effortlessly make any story BIG," he added.