KTN has hired veteran radio journalist from BBC to head its news agenda. A very unexpected pick for the position, Odeo Sirari began his job as KTN news editor today Monday, 11th June 2018, as Standard Group moves to fill the gaps left after the exit of KTN managing editor Joe Ageyo to rival Citizen TV.
Odeo has been brought in to bolster the Kiswahili desk headed by Paul Nabiswa, also a former BBC journalist. Odeo had worked for BBC for eight years as a multimedia journalist and radio presenter for its Kiswahili programmes based at the Nairobi bureau. Before joining BBC, Odeo worked at Milele FM as assistant news editor and Radio Jambo as Swahili news editor. Previously, he worked as a sports reporter at Citizen TV and radio between 2005 and 2008.
Odeo, who holds diploma journalism and public relations from Kenya Polytechnic, will be tasked with packaging KTN’s news programmes at a time when competition is growing not just from traditional rivals but also from alternative sources of news online and other digital technologies.
He is studying for a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Media studies at the University of Nairobi. It is not clear whether he was poached from BBC or he had left earlier before Standard spotted him.
Odeo will be banking on his experience at BBC, the global broadcasting house, to inject new ideas at Standard Group, which owns KTN and Radio Maisha and runs a digital division that would certainly benefit from his ideas.
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KTN recently promoted Ellen Wanjiru to Managing Editor broadcast with a wider mandate including radio, effectively killing the position of managing for television. The TV station has been a victim of poaching by Citizen and BBC.
Citizen TV recently took Ageyo and news anchor Yvonne Okwara, while BBC hired Lyn Wachira from sports desk and Michelle Ngele from news desk.
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