Citizen TV has dismissed allegations that Royal Media Services (RMS) owner SK Macharia has fired the Head of Editorial Department, Linus Kaikai, over the coverage of yesterday's demonstrations.
In a brief statement on Thursday, June 26, the media house termed the allegations as fake and urged Kenyans to treat such information with the contempt it deserves.
It went ahead to flag a viral social media post which purported Kaikai's sacking. The post alleged that the media personality was fired for skewed coverage of the demonstrations.
The misleading post further claimed that Kaikai allegedly helped civil society groups to taint the reputation of President William Ruto's administration through imbalanced broadcasting.
The media house flagged the viral post as fake and wrote, "Treat this fake news with the contempt it deserves."
Kaikai, an award-winning journalist and former President of the Kenya Editors Guild, was in 2022 appointed as the Group Editorial Director at RMS following the exit of Joe Ageyo.
His appointment was announced by RMS Managing Director Wachira Waruru, who noted that Kaikai would oversee the administrative and editorial functions of the media house.
"I am pleased to announce the appointment of Linus Kaikai as the RMS Group Editorial Director. He will oversee the administrative and editorial aspects of our news and current affairs operations," Waruru said.
Kaikai joined Citizen TV in 2018 from NTV, where he served as the managing editor for nine years. Before joining NTV, he served as managing editor at KTN from 2007 to 2009.
A distinguished media personality, Kaikai has won several awards, including the CNN African Television Journalist Award in 1997. In 1998, he was named Environmental Journalist of the Year.
He holds a Bachelor's degree in law from the University of Nairobi and a Master’s degree in International Journalism from the University of Westminster in the United Kingdom.
Kaikai also attended the Institute of Mass Communication, where he trained in radio and TV broadcasting.
