For ardent Citizen TV news-watchers, the bulletin on Tuesday, July 28, may have appeared different from the usual broadcasts.
This is because Waihiga Mwaura anchored the news from his home as opposed to the studio and even held interviews with Senators Irungu Kang'ata (Murang'a) and Ledama ole Kina (Kajiado).
Responding to a comment from a viewer he explained, "with the pandemic, we were told work from home if you can and that is what we are trying to do here."
Waihiga gave a glimpse of the operation behind the scenes that made the broadcast possible from his own house.
The seasoned journalist shared pictures where he set up his phone that would act as the camera on a tripod and even had a teleprompter to guide him in anchoring.
What appeared to be a one-man show was actually the product of a team working remotely to ensure everything ran as scheduled.
"What working from home looks like. Newsnight, the home edition debuted yesterday on Citizen TV. It will only get better thanks to the brilliant support from a huge team at Royal Media Services Wangeci Muiruki, Monica Kiragu and Lindsey Khasoha," he acknowledged with a post on his social media.
He further thanked his wife, Switch TV presenter Joyce Omondi for giving him creative direction during the broadcast.
Other media houses have taken to set up trial runs on how the shows can proceed even if the presenters are working from home.
Radio Africa Group has had its radio presenters host their shows from their homes including Kiss FM's Felix Odiwuor, popularly known as Jalang’o and his co-host Kamene Goro who have set up a small studio at the latter’s house.
Other presenters who have been working from home include Mike Mondo of Classic FM, and Jacob Ghost Mulee of Radio Jambo among others.
One of the first news anchors to host news from the comfort of their living rooms was KTN’s Grace Kuria as well as NTV's Salim Swaleh.
Joseph Muiruri, a production expert, stated that the advancement of technology had made it easier for TV or radio content to be broadcasted from home.
Several media houses have reported cases of Covid-19 cases with KBC, K24 TV and Radio Africa isolating their staff upon discovery of positive cases. Citizen TV anchor Jeff Koinange and Political Affairs reporter Stephen Letoo had earlier in July revealed that they had tested positive for the virus.
Watch the clip from the bulletin on Tuesday, July 28 below:
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