Nation Media Group has frozen employment of journalists for one year, dashing the hopes of many correspondents of getting permanent jobs. The bad news was delivered to correspondents based in the main newsroom at the Nation centre today by Daily Nation News Editor Eric Shimoli.
Mr Shimoli, who talked to the correspondents after they protested long delays in employment, said the company was experiencing “hard economic times” and was cutting costs.
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This means for the next one year, the region’s leading media house will not hire journalists on permanent terms. The company has, in fact, started a massive recruitment of correspondents. It has been conducting interviews since Monday, mostly targeting to poach from the smaller rivals, such as The People and the Star.
Interestingly, however, NMG’s profit before tax increased to Ksh3.62 billion in 2014 compared from Ksh3.59 billion in 2013. The marginal growth in profit was attributed to a Ksh230 million write-off for analogue broadcasting equipment and the company’s old press machine, which is being replaced this year.
NMG has a presence in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
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