Correspondents suffering at Nation Media Group

The chief editor of this site received the below complaint by a Nation Media Group correspondent

Hello Sir,

I hope you are well. Please hide my identity.

Correspondents at Nation Media Group are suffering, but most are afraid to speak up about the woes and frustrations facing them.

This is a company that prides itself as the biggest media house in East and Central Africa.

However, the inside reads and looks like the infamous tower of Babel in the Bible. It’s a pathetic and messed up situation.

Since January, most correspondents have been facing frequent salary delays and sometimes the payments are short of what they expect.

Essentially, the permanent staff are usually paid by 25^th of every month, but correspondents (newspaper section) have to wait until 5^th to receive their payments.

This script is however changing, as correspondents are now paid beyond  12^th. making their lives almost unbearable at a time the company is making a strong financial comeback after being devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

What does this mean for a correspondent who is a family bread winner and is expected to pay his rent in Nairobi? Most have complained of being thrown out of their houses by impatient landlords, whose rent has to be paid by 5^th of every month.

What is more disappointing is the company’s recent frequent announcements of job promotions—which comes with salary increments and hefty allowances.

Isn’t this an insult to correspondents who have to toil daily to provide almost 90 percent of the content to the newspapers?

To make the matter worse, these are like casuals who are paid peanuts. For example, a correspondent in Nairobi is paid an average retainer of Sh20,000 in addition to the articles and photos s/he contributes in the newspapers and online platforms.

The rest in other parts of the country are paid varying amounts of retainer, ranging from Sh10,000 or even lower.

Despite these delays and other frustrations, the senior managers apparently appear unperturbed, despite some of them being former writers and correspondents.