Nation Media Group (NMG) has initiated plans to merge its sports desks a move that could yet again lead to redundancies as the region’s largest media house works to further reduce its expenditure.
The new converged desk, which will bring together sports teams from Daily Nation, Taifa Leo, NTV and Digital Sports, will be headed by veteran sports journalist Elias Makori, who has been appointed Managing Editor.
Insiders said Makori, currently the regional editor at NMG’s Eldoret office, will be reporting directly to Editor-in-Chief Tom Mshindi.
Early this year, NMG also converged its business desks, which saw Daily Nation business desk team moved from third floor of Nation Centre to Business Daily’s 7th floor under its managing editor, Ochieng Rapuro.
The move is believed to have been behind the departure of DN business editor Wachira Kang’aru in May after he lost control of the daily’s business coverage.
It will be interesting to see how the reporting lines at the sports desk would be and if section editors will retain control of their platforms as they report to Makori, a former DN sports editor, who will be reporting to Nation Centre on September 1.
According to sources familiar with the goings on at the twin towers, the foreign desk has also been merged with the EastAfrican to form internationals desk based on 4th floor.
Business Today has also learnt that after the sports desk, the news desk will be the next target as NMG Chief Executive Officer Joe Muganda seeks to conclude his restructuring plans aimed at minimising labour costs in the face of dwindling revenue.
NMG recently sent home tens of employees after shutting all its radio stations and merging Swahili TV station, QTV with NTV in a move that shocked the industry and led protests from the Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ), which was never consulted.
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Operations of QFM, Nation FM and Kigali-based KFM were moved online.
“Convergence means that all news departments in broadcasting, print and digital will be supervised by single captains as overall heads,” a staffer told Business Today.
The position of sports managing editor is a first in the industry.
But in picking Makori, NMG has tapped an experienced sports journalist, who has won several awards over the years before he moved to Eldoret two and half years ago.
They include the 2012 International Association of Sports Federations ( IAAF) World Journalist of the Year, 2014 Kenya Sports Journalist of the Year and 2012 Nation Media Group Employee of the Year.
This year, he was appointed by Lord Sebastian Coe and the IAAF to serve as part of an 11-member elite IAAF Press and Media Operations Advisory Group.
The group includes journalists from the world’s leading media organisations like L’Equipe (France) and Kyodo News Agency (Japan).
President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto acknowledged the appointment via personal messages.
Makori, who joined NMG in 1993 as a reporter, is a graduate of St Augustine University of Tanzania (SAUT), formerly Nyegezi Social Training Institute (NSTI), one of the oldest journalism schools in Africa.
He also holds two post-graduate diplomas in sports management and sports marketing and a masters degree in sports management. He has been a visiting lecturer at Moi University.
Sources intimated that Barnabas Bii, a long time Eldoret-based journalist, will take over from Makori at the North Rift Regional Office, which recently moved from Zion Mall to MUPS Plaza where NMG has set up radio and TV studios.
