Nation Media Group makes key editorial changes

The Nation Media Group on Tuesday made changes in its Editorial department, signalling a new push to reshape its journalism, grow partnerships and explore new content and commercial streams.

Announcing the changes, the Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Stephen Gitagama, noted that the news and content industry had significantly shifted to new formats and revenue models, and that “survival depends on building a diverse and youthful talent pool to take the Nation Media Group to the future”. 

In the new changes, Mr Mutuma Mathiu, who was the Group Editorial Director, has been appointed Editor-in-Chief, the title change indicating the redefinition of editorial leadership to reflect the increasingly more multi-platform and multi-national nature of the company’s editorial operations, noted Mr Gitagama.

In this new role, Mr Mutuma will provide effective strategic editorial stewardship straddling journalism, commercial,  technology and stakeholder management for all the Group’s business units in Kenya, the region and beyond. 

Ms Pamella Sittoni, who was the Group Executive Editor in charge of the Daily Nation, has been appointed Executive Editor in charge of Partnerships. In her new role, she will also be in charge of identifying the Group’s talent needs and developing them through innovative training programmes, while at the same time improving the diversity of the editorial workforce and blazing the trail in the new area of branded content, in which NMG is investing.

Mr Bernard Mwinzi, who was Managing Editor Weekends, has been appointed Managing Editor, Daily Nation. Besides leading the Group’s flagship title, Mr Mwinzi will also be involved in content generation and will assist in the ideation and editing of branded content, supervise the Health Desk and set up a Climate Desk to explore new content and partnership ideas. Mr Mwinzi will also be in charge of production and quality of the daily news and content service.

Also appointed to a new management role is Mr Churchill Otieno, who was Head of Development and Learning but now becomes Head of News and Managing Editor, Nation.Africa. He will be the leader of the news team with the responsibility of ensuring appropriate content is provided to all platforms, said Mr Gitagama. 

Ms Dorcas Muga, who was the Gender Editor, has been appointed Partnerships Manager and Gender Editor. She will coordinate the operations of all partnership projects to ensure reporting compliance with contracts and successful execution of mandates. 

At the same time, Mr Washington Gikunju, who was Head of News, has been appointed Managing Editor for Weekends, replacing Mr Mwinzi; while long-serving sports editor Elias Makori is now Managing Editor for the section.

To improve the quality of output, Ms Catherine Wanyama has been appointed as Editorial Quality Lead, where she will be tasked with consolidating and leading the quality function; while Mr Alex Ndegwa has been appointed Enterprise Editor to lead the generation of prime content.

Mr Allan Olingo, who was the News Editor at The EastAfrican, is now Continuity Editor and will be responsible for breaking news and leading a multi-media team of breaking-news reporters.

At the same time, Ms Lynette Mukami, who was the Engagement Editor, is now the Audience Editor. Her role will include adding urgency to consistency to the newsroom’s efforts to engage, serve and develop audiences. 

Mr Kenfrey Kiberenge, who has been Community Editor, will also be in charge of Nairobi News. In this new role he will lead community reporting across the country and revive Nairobi News to serve the Nairobi metropolitan region. He will establish, by the end of the year, similar products for our key markets in Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret and Mt Kenya, among others. 

Mr Patrick Lang’at , who was Regional Editor Eldoret, is now Political and Parliamentary Affairs Editor. He will be replaced by Kisumu Regional Editor Caroline Wafula in the same capacity, while reporter Justus Wanga has been deployed to Kisumu as the Regional Editor.

Mr Aggrey Mutambo, who was Senior Diplomatic Writer, has been appointed News Editor, The EastAfrican, while Mr Harry Misiko, who was Growth Editor, will be the News Editor, Africa.

Completing the list of appointments were Ms Angela Oketch, who has been promoted to Senior Health Reporter, and Ms Amina Wako, who joins the Health and Science Desk as a reporter.