Kevine Odhiambo Omollo is a multimedia journalist working with Standard Group, based in Kisumu, and covering Nyanza Region within western part of Kenya. He holds a Bachelor Degree in Journalism and Mass Communication and is currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Media and Communication. He has been working in the mainstream media since 2013 serving as the Acting Regional Editor/Bureau Chief. Apart from the media work, Kevine has been a Media Viability Consultant with DW Akademie since 2019 supporting small and medium media houses to embrace innovation in order to be sustainable. Since May 2018 he has been working as a part time tutor in the department of Media and Communication at Maseno University sharing media knowledge and skills with future journalists.
In his other private engagements, he provides media and communication consultancy services for small media houses on content development, especially designing radio programs, and improving quality in multimedia news content development and packaging.
| What motivates you to be part of the Media Viability ecosystem?
My career choice was never by accident. My love for media draws back to my lower primary school age when I spent a lot of time listening to radio and even acquired my own set at the age of 12. With time, I emulated radio presenters, and when time came for me to choose a career, I went for what I loved most, journalism. Before I could complete my first journalism degree, I got a job as a correspondent, and my active journey begun. I grew up in the career and begun to discover some of the challenges facing the media, such as fast fading quality of content, inadequate mentorship, competition, among others. My aim has been to contribute to the sustainability of small media houses through quality and diversified content, steady revenue streams and digital presence. |
| What impact do you want to make in the media sector?
My aim is to have a media house that can provide quality content development through well mentored staff and still manage to realize profit. This is not achievable through theories and philosophies but through proper SWOT ANALYSIS of the media houses and having them maximize the available resources, and use them to improve on their operations. Money to sustain the media is out here, but people are only willing to invest in the media that provides solutions to the issues facing the communities. I want to help small media houses design their programs and content development strategies, and then use to attract as many audiences as possible, define the audiences and use them to attract financing through various means such as donor funding, sponsorships, subscriptions, targeted advertisements and pay content. |
| What can media organisations as beneficiaries expect when working with you?
With my presence in both practice and academia, I am able to view issues from different perspective. As a tutor in the university, I lean on a daily basis and also mentor upcoming journalists. This gives me an opportunity to expand my scope on issues facing the media. Having been part of the DW Akademie Media Viability Consultancy, I have learnt a lot about sustainability of small and medium media houses, and how to improve on their content generation, proper development of their human resources, as well as innovative ways of revenue streams. This is the skill that many media houses require at this time that advertisement revenue streams are shrinking and competition for the few available advertisers. Being in practice, I have the general outlook of the media landscape in Kenya and East Africa, and can help come up with possible solutions to the issues facing the media house. |
