NMG Uganda outlets eye digital-first future

Nation Media Group is refocussing its editorial outlook into a diversified and digital-first future, Editor-in-Chief Tom Mshindi said today, charting a roadmap for the Group's operations in Uganda.

The content generation platforms will collaborate more closely, innovate together and eventually converge into a single newsroom-cum-content hub.

"We are evolving from a news organisation into a content company and leveraging our strengths to better understand and serve our audiences," Mr Mshindi said. "It is part of a group-wide realignment towards changing customer information needs and preferences.

NMG's outlets in Uganda include The EastAfrican, Daily Monitor, NTV Uganda, Dembe FM, K-FM, Ennyanda and Spark TV. The outlets have the biggest audience footprint online, with Nairobi-listed NMG boasting a monthly audience of more than 26 million unique users across East Africa -- higher than Facebook.

The Group's newsrooms in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi have already undergone the transformation and this is the final segment of the initial phase of convergence.

Mr Mshindi announced that Mr Daniel Kalinaki had been recalled from Nairobi to lead NMG's convergence of its editorial operation in the country, with effect from June 1, 2017. Mr Kalinaki has been closely involved in redefining the Group's online-first strategy and is very well placed to drive the process in Uganda.

"The team will ensure we have the first credible reports of breaking news and the last insightful explanation of what it means in a world of uncertainty," Mr Mshindi said.

A journalist with two decades' experience, Mr Kalinaki edited the Daily Monitor for five years until 2013 and has spent the last 4 years in Nairobi as the Group's convergence editor.

NTV & Spark TV MD Aggie Konde welcomed Kalinaki's return. She said the convergence would offer customers and advertisers real-time value propositions at an affordable cost across the different platforms at the leading multi-media organisation in Uganda.