NTV anchor Salim Swaleh is set to take over the Swahili desk as the managing editor, Kenyans.co.ke has learned.
Sources with knowledge of developments at the Nation Media Group (NMG) disclosed that the Swahili anchor was appointed to the managerial position in an acting capacity.
Salim will be replacing Shaban Ulaya who was fired alongside other journalists in an announcement on Friday, July 3.
His roles in the position will include handling of both editorial and administrative matters touching on the Swahili department.
The seasoned anchor joined NTV in June 2018, after quitting Citizen TV a month prior. He was assigned the role of a senior news anchor, news producer, and African affairs expert and researcher.
Swaleh's appointment comes as the media station announced plans of restructuring its departments in readiness to adopt a new business model.
This saw a notice of the layoff which is said to be targeting over 100 members of staff.
Already the redundancies have cut across the newsroom with those targeted being from multiple departments.
On Friday, July 3, NTV Anchors Ken Mijungu, Debarl Inea, and Harith Salim were terminated from the station.
Also affected were Brenda Wanga (news reporter), Sharon Baranga (reporter), Lillian Kiarie (business reporter), and Silas Apollo (news reporter).
In the newspaper department, Business Daily Managing Editor Ng’ang’a Mbugua and Daily Nation News Editor Francis Wanyonyi Wambilianga are among the seniormost staffers said to have been let go.
NMG Group CEO Stephen Gitama announced that the layoff was part of the remodeling by the company by shifting its business model from print advertising and physical reader copy to digital advertising, e-paper subscriptions, and content-driven reader revenue.
“This will require re-tooling and resourcing the group with relevance skill sets critical for success in the new business environment. Regrettably, this will result in a reduction of our workforce effective Friday, July 3, 2020,” he stated.
