Reeling from having hemorrhaged top talent to both the State and other media houses, Citizen TV has once again turned to familiar shores to plug talent gaps.
Sources privy to the latest wave of poaching have told Kenyans.co.ke, that NTV news anchor OIive Burrows has been tapped to replace the departing Victoria Rubadiri who is set to join her former colleague Larry Madowo as an African correspondent at the Warner Media-owned CNN.
Burrows is currently serving notice and will debut at the Dennis Pritt based media house in the next month, adding to the star studded array of news anchors employed by Royal Media Services.
Olive Burrows, who joined Nation Media Group in May 2018 from Capital FM, has been a permanent fixture on Kenyan screens, building a profile for herself hosting the morning talk show AM Live and presenting prime time news.
However, for Citizen TV, it doesn't end there.
Our sources have also revealed that Royal Media is grappling with how best to replace its departed talent.
For instance, replacing Chemutai Goin and Hassan Mugambi who joined the government as communications specialists in National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula's Office and The Ministry of Defence has become a conundrum.
To that end, Kenyans.co.ke has reliably been informed that Citizen TV has sounded out NTV's political reporter Melita ole Tenges to replace Goin.
It is expected that prizing away Tenges from the Twin Towers won't present much of a headache since moving to Citizen, on overall, presents a better opportunity for political reporters both in terms of career growth and the financial package involved.
To replace Mugambi, however, will be much harder. Sources have revealed that Citizen has expressed interest in NTV's Special Projects, Crimes and Investigations reporter Brian Obuya.
While NTV is likely to let Tenges leave without kicking up much of a fuss, Nation will be reluctant to let Obuya leave, since NMG is banking on its Crime and Investigations desk to make its paywall strategy work and pull numbers to its content website.
Kenyans.co.ke has previously reported that NTV is currently re-engineering all its editorial programs, in an effort to make them more competitive in the current broadcast media landscape.
The same sources reveal that, NMG has put out all stops to stop its talent within the Crime and Investigations desk from leaving as it transitions into what it considers the next frontier.
Currently, NMG's Special Projects, Crimes and Investigations desk comprises of; Alex Ndegwa (Editor), Duncan Khaemba (reporter), Ibrahim Karanja (reporter and standby news anchor), Ngina Kirori (reporter), Brian Wasuna (reporter- print) and Brian Obuya (reporter).
As this happens, sources have confided that Citizen is determined to get Crime and Investigations talent, whatever the cost.
The thinking is based on trend analysis showing that only in-depth, crime and investigations stories will attract eyeballs needed to consistently keep viewers glued and attract the subsequent advertising revenue.
Besides setting its sights on NMG talent, sources have also confided that Citizen TV has identified KTN reporter Emmanuel Too as a good fit to take up a political reporter position.
If NMG becomes a difficult playground, Citizen will turn its attention to KTN's Crime and Investigations Desk currently headed by Former BBC Reporter Francis Ontomwa in line with this vision.
Other reporters on the KTN Desk include; seasoned online reporter Fred Kagonye and Francis Odee.
