Star political reporter Oliver Mathenge has denied reports that he is leaving the newspaper to join President Uhuru’s re-election campaign team. Mathenge, who reports on government and Jubilee affairs, said he had neither resigned nor planning to leave the Star, which is owned by Radio Africa Group.
“In any case, it is even too early to join the campaign team if I were to,” he told Business Today on phone last evening. “I just want to clarify that I am still at the Star newspaper and when the time comes to leave I will let everyone know.”
Mathenge alleged that the exit information may have been spread by people keen to see him leave Kenya’s youngest daily newspaper. In our report, a source at the Star said the reporter was actually serving notice and could leave as early as next week to the Jubilee Secretariat, which manages President Uhuru Kenyatta’s campaigns.
“These are people who want to spoil my job and that’s not fair,” he added. Today morning, he posted a short message on his Facebook page saying, “Ignore the rumours. May we all have a great Friday.”
The Star relaunched in March this year rebranded into a political newspaper from its initial tabloid approach and boosted its digital platforms, hoping to ride on the reelection campaigns to increase circulation and advertising, but sources say the paper has not been doing so well as expected.
“Print is the last point of publication. So newspapers need to become a premium product serving the reader with analysis, background and prediction. You already know the headlines by the time you are reading the Star, so we have to give you something more,” it said in its relaunch issue on March 17th.
Media analysts say staff exits – the latest being the exit of Business Editor Lola Okulo – could be a sign of low confidence in its performance in the market.
[crp]
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