The both alarming and disturbing rate of crime in Kenya is not only being fought by the authorities and the wananchi alone but by aggressive journalist as well.
The media investigative industry has given rise to passionate journalist like Mohamed Ali and John Allan Namu who have now been signed up by a new TV station rising called TV47.
Under the deals the TV station, owned by Cape Media, will screen content from Africa Uncensored, run by former KTN journalist John Allan Namu and Jicho Pevu by Mohammed Ali, also a former KTN reporter.
TV47 is building its content ahead of the planned launch in June and will be banking on the hard-nosed journalists to recruit and retain viewers. Cape Media is owned by Mount Kenya University founder and chairman Prof Simon Gicharu, who is hoping to tap untouched content in counties.
Speaking during the commissioning of TV47 Digital arm, Prof Gicharu said the MoUs will give TV47 a head start in a competitive media environment, where the market’s big boys – Citizen TV, KTN and NTV – have a stranglehold on both audience and ad spend.
“The Jicho Pevu offering will be now called Jicho Pevu47,” Prof Gicharu said, adding that the media house has had successful talks with Ali, now the MP for Nyali MP. John Allan Namu resigned from KTN in 2015 , citing frustration in doing his job, while Mohammed Ali, known popularly as Jicho Pevu, quit in 2016 to join politics ahead of the 2017 general elections. Both are award-winning journalists.