Story Behind NTV's Hilarious Headlines

An NTV Tag that went viral on social media
An NTV Tag that went viral on social media
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You've come across the tags that make you do a double-take to make sure you read something right... probably even the first image in this story had that effect on you.

But after you process the information in the story you go back to the tag that is three or four words and it makes perfect sense - the perfect summary!

These are the tags that NTV chooses to present the news with - light and meaningful at the same time, seasoned with a little humor and they spark conversations.

NTV Anchor Dennis Okari presenting the news with the tag that went viral on social media.
NTV Anchor Dennis Okari presenting the news with the tag that went viral on social media.
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NTV's Dann Mwangi spoke to Kenyans.co.ke and revealed how the team at the station develops the tags for their news items.

"First of all, it's a communal effort, we brainstorm over the tags for stories," he says.

Everyone is talented in their own right and we have quite a number of poets, creative thinkers, and writers in our newsroom - he adds in reference to Mark Masai, Sheila Sendeyo, Zainab Wandati, Watson KarumaEmmanuel Juma.  Joseph Warungu, Dennis Okari and Edmond Nyabola, as well as other editors, reporters and various team members who play different roles.

The Swahili tags are done by the journalists at the Swahili Desk  - Jane Ngoiri, Shabaan Ulaya, Francis Mutegi, Salim Swaleh, Harith Salim.

"The team is very alive to the fact that not everyone is alike in their creativity or wordplay, so they will not shun, but gladly accommodate the tags that are not punny, and more straightforward, but factual and accurate," the seasoned journalist conveyed.

Dann, who serves as an anchor and Innovation and Training editor explained that a number of factors are considered when creating the tags.

An image of Dann Mwangi
NTV news anchor Dann Mwangi at a past event.
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"The purpose of the tags is to add value to a story without cheapening it. So we have to be careful about how we present the news stories on Prime Time.

"We avoid wordplay on sensitive stories or some that may have negative implications on a company or the government," he conveyed.

Mwangi added that the audience is also considered when developing the tags, especially children.

"We were having a discussion not to be too extreme as children will watch the news and they may not understand," he stated.

The NTV anchor gave an example of how they come about a tag. "With the recent disquiet at the Jubilee party, we play around with the words and come up with "No Party at Jubilee."

"Wordplay on names for example when President Uhuru Kenyatta sent flowers to the United Kingdom the tag was "UK Sends Flowers to the UK."

The journalist further explained a tag that was a source of conversation on social media by his colleague Mark Masai on a report on the treatment of Africans in China during the Covid-19 crisis which ended up with the tag "Ni How China" a wordplay on greetings in Chinese "Ni Hao" and Sheng' slang for "What's happening."

"We also try to make them short by truncating but also careful not to lose the gist. If it is too long to be in the tag we try to write it into the anchor's introduction or the voice over of the story when editing," he conveyed. 

Dann further stated that a source of inspiration comes from social media and they can even borrow puns from posts that work with the news items adding that they try to avoid cliches in the tags.

"I've always been good at wordplay. I am very punny as I was a poet before I was a journalist. Even when I am anchoring the news, you'll hear me do that and put puns in the reporting," he explained.

NTV anchor anchoring a bulletin in May 2020.
NTV anchor Mark Masai anchoring a bulletin in May 2020.

He further stated that their boss, NTV's Managing editor Emmanuel Juma was a creative person as his work is evident in "Bull's Eye."

The anchor concluded by stating "it means a lot especially during these times to do something that brings joy to people's lives."