It’s tough being a journalist in Kenya – at the moment. It’s more gruelling if you are a correspondent – which means you are only paid if your story is published or aired.
Thousands of journalists work for media houses in Kenya – at Nation, Standard Group, Radio Africa Group, Mediamax, Royal Media Services and many other local stations.
Most of these employees are correspondents scattered across the country – all of whom toil and moil to keep these media houses running for a song.
“Most of us share one thing in common – an uncertain future that has been worsened by the vagaries of the pandemic,” Noxon* a correspondent in one of the media houses tells Mwanahabari.co.ke. He asked not to be named.
Nixon* says he earns Ksh7,000 on a good month as a correspondent working for one of the top media houses in Kenya. On a bad month he earns Ksh3,000 – never mind that he is a journalism graduate from one of the best public universities in Kenya.
“I don’t have a retainer. I just have to work my fingers off to write tons of stories to increase my pay. I have a family – and I have no medical cover provided for me and my family,” says Nixon* who reminds us not to name him in our story for fear of victimization.
Of course we give him our word.
Then there is Tom* who recently landed a job at Kenya’s second largest media house – and has been working for the past one year without a formal contract – just word of mouth. Tom knows many other journalists working at the same media house who have no formal contracts.
“I am paid Ksh14,000 per month. On paper, I am supposed to be paid a lot more. I have a young family. Imagine I cannot even travel to meet sources, pay my rent comfortably and feed my family.” he says.
Tom says he had to send his family to the village as he continues to put up with three friends (all of them correspondents) in a single room house in Nairobi’s Kayole area.
He says there are times when life becomes so unbearable that he wonders why he even studied journalism.
“I get a lot less when my stories die – and the amount keeps fluctuating like water in the river,” he says with a smile – but one that hides deep lying pain.
“It doesn’t matter if you spent your little resources on travel, food and even accommodation to find that story. Stories often die – even those that took you back Ksh2,000 to source and package,” he said.
“I cannot count on one hand alone the number of stories I have sourced and packaged only for them to be shelved for one reason or another. The most painful part is that no one is obliged to offer an explanation as to why your story was not published,” he adds.
A group of journalists from Nyanza who go by the moniker JOFUAMBO have been supporting hundreds of journalists from the region – who are spread across the country.
“We came together to help our journalists whose financial situation has worsened ever since the Covid-19 pandemic was reported in Kenya in March 2020,” one of the group’s coordinators Luke Awich told Mwanahabari.co.ke.
“Most of the correspondents work in remote areas where good Internet is a rumor and they still have to file stories. This is why we came together to help journalists ravaged by the pandemic by offering them foodstuffs,” said Mr Awich.
The group has so far helped journalists in the counties of Kisumu, Migori, Siaya, Homa Bay and Nairobi and Mombasa counties – and is currently looking to mobilize more resources to help their journalists spread across the country which according to Kenya Union of Journalists Secretary General Eric Oduor, number more than 2,000.
“We are trying to help our people because most of us are going through a rough patch owing to the pandemic. I just wish many people will join the initiative because we have over 2000 journalists and most of them need help,” Oduor told Mwanahabari.co.ke.
According to Awich – the number of journalists who need help keeps rising – and they need to be helped.
“I am urging our members to come on board and help with the initiative. If we pool together as a team – then we will be able to save those in need until things stabilize,” said Awich who works with a small team of journalists drawn from the five counties who help with the programme.
“Our members have been supportive and I must appreciate the over 200 journalists who are members of JOFUAMBO. I also appreciate the team mandated to run the programme,” he said.
Adding: “We just concluded the fourth phase where 32 journalists drawn from five counties benefited. The fifth phase will be in August. I am asking those who want to join hands with us to come on board. This is a wonderful initiative that will serve to anchor and safeguard goo journalism.”
He urged those who might be facing the impact and cannot make ends meet to get in touch with their representatives so that the coordinating committee can see how they can assist.
These are tough times
Media companies have defended themselves citing tough economic times brought about by the pandemic which has seen adspend drop.
Nation Media Group, Mediamax and Standard Group initiated pay cuts for their employees sometime in 2020. Nation Media Group has since reverted back to paying full salaries – but Standard Group, Royal Media and Mediamax have continued to subject employees to pay cut one year later. Meanwhile, banks that had given loans moratorium have since reverted to making deductions – which means journalists on pay cut are barely surviving.
At Standard Group, correspondents pay has been slashed by nearly 40 percent.
“I used to get over Ksh30,000 per month as a correspondent working for Standard Group. Today I am only paid utmost Ksh16,000 for the same amount of work. It’s that bad,” a correspondent told Mwanahabari.co.ke.
“I don’t see why they cannot pay us well. The company has been initiating and launching a number of products which cost millions. Just the other day they launched a modern newsroom that cost hundreds of millions to construct. Let them pay us well,” he said.
This remains the state of things in most media houses – and which is likely to affect good journalism.