Nation Media Group (NMG) is set to retrench more than 30 employees barely five months after it shut down its three radio stations and Swahili TV rendering over 100 staff redundant. Insiders say the plan is the culmination of its annual talent review exercise through which the listed media house offloads employees perceived to be laggards around December.
But it could also be part of its strategy to reduce the wage bill in the face of dwindling readership of newspapers in Kenya and falling advertising revenue. Tension is growing at Nation Centre, the headquarters of NMG, where editorial staff are said to have crossed their fingers.
In June, the company closed the studios of Nation FM and QFM in Kenya, Rwanda’s KFM as well as the hybrid television station QTV. At the time, the company said it was embracing technology – by taking the stations online – as a result of changing trends, and the need to transform Nation into a modern digital content company. QTV was merged with NTV.
NMG CEO Joe Muganda has also been implementing convergence that has seen various desks merged to serve its print, electronic and digital outlets, leaving some employees without substantial work o virtually redundant.
The migration from analogue to digital broadcasting coupled with reduced advertising spend by both the government and private sector has hit media houses hard with almost all of them resorting to restructuring to stay afloat.
NMG has not paid annual staff bonuses in the past three years. Late last month, Royal Media Services also laid off over 100 employees, including prominent journalists, citing developments in the sector in the last two years, which it said had adversely affected its business environment, prompting the company to re-organise its operations.
“Unfortunately and regrettably, the action will result in the reduction of our workforce through job redundancies,” Managing Director Wachira Waruru said in a memo to staff.
At Radio Africa, staff salaries were delayed last month and there is talk of an impending reorganisation. Mediamax Network Ltd and Standard Group also retrenched staff last year.
NEXT READ >> Interview: From refugee to CNN news anchor
Eish