The Standard Group yesterday officially unveiled Dennis Galava as the new Managing Editor for its weekend newspaper editions, just two days after Business Today reported that the former Nation editor had reached a deal to rejoin Standard.
In a memo to staff dated November 11, Group Head of Human Resources Nicholas Siwatom said Mr Galava has over 16 years’ experience in the media industry as a writer and editor. His last assignment was Managing Editor for Special projects and Investigations at the Nation Media Group, where he was acrimoniously sacked for writing a strongly worded editorial against the government of President Uhuru.
Mr Galava reported to work yesterday and is said to be undergoing orientation before being left to his own devices. The weekend editions have recorded major drop in circulation over the past few years compared to its rival Saturday Nation.
In terms of content, Saturday Standard largely boosted by the Eve and Smart Harvest magazine. From the surface, Galava’s job looks great but he will have to burn the midnight oil to restore the numbers by retooling the weekend operations and injecting life into its news and analysis pages.
At Nation, he had a huge budget to commission investigative stories or even research into social trends that would make very riveting weekend read, a luxury that he may not readily enjoy at Standard which, besides disbanding its investigative team, has been cutting operational costs to stay afloat.
Also, the group laid off some of its key weekend writers last year, weakening its political content. Efforts to poach from Nation recently have been resisted, forcing it to develop its in-house talent. Mr Galava is likely to demand his own space and create a new team that will deliver the results and could likely look back at Nation.
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Below is the Memo to staff yesterday
Appointment of Mr Dennis Galava as Managing Editor – The Standard’s Weekend Editions
Mon 11/14/2016 6:13 PM
To: Group Announcement;
Dear Colleagues,
The Management is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Dennis Galava as Managing Editor of The Standard’s Weekend Editions.
Mr Galava has over 16 years’ experience in the media industry. His last assignment was Managing Editor for Special projects and Investigations at the Nation Media Group. Previously, he served as Managing Editor of the Saturday Nation.
Mr Galava started his journalism career at The Standard, where he rose to the position of Senior Associate Editor for Weekend editions in 2008.
He is an accomplished writer and holds an MSc in African studies from Oxford University, an MA in Peace Studies from Coventry University and a BEd (Arts) from Kenyatta University.
Mr Galava is taking over from Mr. Enock Wambua, who has served the company diligently for many years and now wishes to pursue other interests.
Join me in welcoming Dennis to The standard.
Best Regards,
Nicholas Siwatom|Group Head of Human Resources
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