Looming layoffs in Kenyan media have caused panic and turmoil in major Kenyan newspapers with journalists wondering if they’ll have a job the next day.
The changing media landscape, where companies are struggling to generate enough revenue to stay afloat, is dealing the established veteran journalists and newbies’ deadly blows in equal measure.
Most mainstream media houses in Kenya have directly and by proxy sent out layoff notices to their staff to manage their ballooning payroll as advertisement revenues shrink, thanks to news business disruption by social media, blogs, and digital media.
In the first week of December, Nation Media Group, a major media house in Kenya and East Africa, issued layoff notices to some of its top-cream journalists.
The big names on the company’s chopping block include senior editors and senior reporters. Chief among them is Churchill Otieno, the current Kenya Editors’ Guild President.
Otieno, NMG’s Head of News and Managing Editor, is said to be on the list of the staff to be laid off.
The Group CEO, Stephen Gitagama, in a notice of reorganization dated November 30th, 2022, said that the changes would be ‘unsettling but necessary in building the NMG of the future”.
Other senior staff rumored to be on the list of those being dropped include Peter Ngare, the managing editor for Taifa Leo, and Editor Muthoni, Taifa Leo’s features editor.
NMG is also parting ways with Mark Masai, a news anchor who has served at NTV for 14 years.
“This is the reality of the media landscape around the world, and unfortunately, I was at the losing end of this one,” Masai said in an interview with Capital FM. “However, this is not the end of my career in the media; I will be back on other platforms. All I have to say is watch this space.”
On September 30th, the Standard Group CEO, through an internal memo, notified the media house’s staff of looming redundancies in all departments.
The memo stated the reasons for redundancies as being due to disruption of business as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, which hurt the Group’s revenues; restructuring of the company to adopt a leaner, more efficient structure; and shifting trends in media consumption occasioned by technological changes in the digital environment.
“The Company is therefore giving one month’s notice of the company’s intention to declare redundancy with effect from the date hereof. The redundancy is expected to affect employees across various departments and will be undertaken in phases. The affected employees will be duly informed in writing,” the memo read.
On November 1st, Radio Africa Group, the media house which owns The Star Newspaper, and several other radio and TV stations announced changes geared toward generating more revenue.
In an internal memo written by Paul Ilado, the Group’s head of content, the company said it was changing tact.
“Five years ago, we switched to a digital-first strategy. This strategy was for us to feed our radio stations and websites first,” the memo read.
“We have tried, but unfortunately, it has not given us the desired results. We need to do something radical that will see us generate revenue to pay our bills now that advertising is diminishing daily,” the memo stated further.
To accelerate the digital transformation, the company decided to change its approach to audience-first. In the audience-first concept, Ilado explained, “it comes down to knowing your audience better and serving them better.”
“This move requires that we throw away all the history and experience and start afresh. It requires that we all learn and implement new digital skills. It requires that we use data to make our decisions. It requires that we are judged by the quality and the impact of the stories we write and not how many stories we write,” the memo read.
The company said it would maintain 32 pages in its Star newspaper, and the paper would be put together by 30 percent of the Group team. The hard news stories would be published on the company’s online platforms. On the other hand, the physical news would have “well-written political exclusives, in-depth analysis and human-interest stories with diverse voices.”
A highly placed editor in the company said the changes would eventually render many correspondents redundant, as most common stories will not go on paper. Therefore the correspondents would have little income.
The changes in the media houses in Kenya come at a time when even the world media giants like the mighty BBC and CNN are also struggling with revenue and meeting operating costs. In September, the BBC said that it would do away with 382 of its staff globally due to a strain on operation costs.
CNN’s Worldwide Chairman and CEO Chris Licht November 1st sent out a layoff notice for the media house’s contributors.
“Today, we will notify a limited number of individuals, largely some of our paid contributors, as part of a recalibrated reporting strategy. Tomorrow, we will notify impacted employees, and tomorrow afternoon I will follow up with more details on these changes,” the notice read.
“It will be a difficult time for everyone. If your job has been impacted, you will learn more through an in-person meeting or via Zoom, depending on your location,” Litch said further.
The layoff wave was so huge it was a subject of discussion in the just concluded Kenya Editors Guild annual meeting.
Pamela Sittoni, a trustee of KEG, regretted the ongoing media layoff exercise because it “targets the well-paid and most experienced in the newsrooms,” affecting the quality of news content.
She further said that the layoffs demoralize the remaining staff, affecting their productivity.
“After retrenchment, the employees left behind are anxious, demoralized, and looking for options. The media must try and rebuild morale and get colleagues to trust the media houses they work for,” she said.
John-Allan Namu, an Investigative Journalist and Guild member, asked: “Can we keep editorial standards in a business model that is constantly under threat? No one has managed to keep high editorial standards and still maintain high revenue.”
“We need to start thinking collaboratively on how to retain the value of our content, or else we will continue paying the price,” Namu said.