Citizen TV has responded to a leaked email sent anonymously to the station's management highlighting a disproportionate pay structure at the media house.
The email, which went viral on social media, indicated that there was a huge gap in pay between the station's management and those who were considered to be lower cadre employees.
The anonymous author claimed that some of the anchors were pocketing as much as Ksh800,000 a month while technical staff and news producers, who the author claimed did most of the work, earned between Ksh40,000 and Ksh80,000.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, a highly-placed sourced from the Kilimani-based media house, however, dismissed the letter as authored by an anonymous individual and noted that any malicious person could write to any company.
"We can't respond to an anonymous letter. That can happen in any company in the world. The letter was copied to everyone. Anyone can write that about any company," stated the reliable source.
The disgruntled employee sent the letter under a pseudonym and copied a number of senior management officials including the station's owner SK Macharia.
He complained that since the media house instituted a pay cut at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, it was yet to reinstate the slashed pay despite an increase in government taxation.
“How can a transmission technician handling 3-4 sites and working 24 hours 365 days without breaks earn Ksh50,000 while a news anchor or radio presenter is earning six figures in salary?
“How can a producer for both radio and TV be taking home Ksh40,000 while the people that work so hard to ensure their content is professional earn three times their salaries?” questioned the complainant.
Citizen TV has for several years now been ranked as the most watched TV station with a market share of 35 per cent.
As of December 2020, the station, which is owned by Royal Media Services (RMS), led the pack followed by NTV (13 percent) and KTN Home (11 percent).
Inooro TV, which is also under the RMS umbrella, emerged in the fifth position with a market share of 7 percent.
