Category Archives: Nation Media Group

Al Jazeera in Kenya

Today is Jamhuri Day and for the first time in many weeks, I was home watching morning TV. There was an interesting piece called “global voices” on NTV with stories about citizen media issues and tolerance in Lebanon and Iran. At first, I thought it was a special documentary on CNNI or BBC then I realised I was watching Al Jazeera TV which the Nation Media Group had said it would start broadcasting had announced it would start broadcasting.

The screen graphics have the deep red of BBC and the presenters were a multi-cultural mix of black, Caucasian and Indian which I noticed when they mentioned all their correspondents and bureaus in Kenya, SA, Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast etc. The only familiar face was Riz Khan who used to be on CNN years ago.

It’s refreshing to see some new media from another country’s perspective now. CNN started in 1990/91 and was later joined by BBC and SKY which local networks run their feeds in the morning.

I hope it is understood as an alternative to the ever-present (US/UK) news view and that NTV does not run a risk by rubbing viewers and advertisers the wrong way. There’s an undercurrent streak of anti-Islam or anti-Arab (without distinguishing which) views among common Kenyans which may be fanned by indiscriminate terrorist acts and some of our own religious leaders.

Whenever anything is done to accommodate Moslems such as Kadhi’s courts or Sharia banking services many Nairobians ask – why are they so special? whey can’t they conform like the rest? why are they imposing their religion on us? This is a myopic view of a religion that numbers almost 1/4 of the planet.

NTV which was recently added to DSTV now give their satellite viewers an early morning peek of Al Jazeera on their feeds.

‘Nation’ makes staff changes

Mr Jaindi Kisero, who has been associate editor in charge of Business on the Daily Nation, moves to The East African as managing editor – and will be replaced by Mr Nicholas Wachira who was previously a business editor at the Standard.

I hope it’s not like other Arthur Andersen who removed auditors who were too vigilant at Enron. Wachira was a good business writer at Standard, but will have to prove himself in the wake of Kisero who wrote insightful business articles on both the government and private sector, highlighting important issues that the rest of the media chose to ignore or were unable to understand.

Business Briefs

KISS FM firings: Another round of media musical chairs, this time at KISS FM. Most of them should land jobs at other media houses, further confusing listeners who tend to associate the personalities with particular stations. Last month it was Nation TV which poached several personalities from KTN.

Kenya Railways Privatization Plan: Seven bidders have been given till June 15 to submit their proposals to the government to manage KR, and the winner will be announced December 15th. The government has asked the bidders to consider the following in their proposals; (i) retain KR’s 9,000 workers until a World Bank retrenchment plan is adopted (ii) double the volume of cargo carried by KR within 5 years (iii) sign a performance management contract. The bidders have in turn agreed to increase KR’s capacity by 20% a year, and have all expressed no interest in continuing any passenger traffic on KR.

Nation Media Group: Turnover at the NMG increased from 4.5 billion in 2003 to 4.9 billion in 2004, and net profit increased from 602 to 641 million shillings (12 shillings EPS). They will pay a 100% dividend (5 shillings per share?) and in addition, shareholders will receive one bonus share for each three they hold as at May 2005.

Unilever Tea Kenya: Posted a 360m profit, up from 62 million in 2003, attributing it to better tea sales, improvements in production and favorable exchange rates. The profit comes to an earning per share (EPS)of 7.39 for the year, of which they will pay 6 shillings as a dividend. In 2003, they also paid 6 shilling divided, but on earnings per share 1.27 shillings only.

Uchumi: Uchumi lost 632 million in the last six months of 2004, compared to a loss of 217 million in the same period last year. Their turnover also reduced from 4.3 billion to 3 billion. They are renewing their inventory and will dispose of land, buildings & non-core assets to raise 900 million shillings for debt and creditor repayments.

Changes at Nation Media Group

For once, the Nation has a story about the Nation Group that is a genuine story. Stories about the Nation or Standard Christmas party or new anchors don’t count as news stories and should not be the third item on the 7 p.m. news, even on a slow news day.

In 2004, the Nation media group was heavily poached of top executives and anchors who went to the Standard (newspaper and KTN) In 2005, Nation seems to be fighting back starting with appointment of Mr Ian Fernandes as managing director of Nation Broadcasting Division, taking overall charge of Nation TV and Nation FM – he was previously the managing director of KTN and worked with Standard group in various senior positions for 11 years. Other realignments have also been made