Journalists from Eastern and North Eastern Regions have been advised to be more creative and innovative to make good use of their hard earned skills in a bid of improving their livelihoods.
Addressing the press at a hotel in Athi River town on Friday, Raphael Omollo, a Nairobi-based specialist noted tha journalists in the regions; especially reporters and correspondents, faced lots of challenges, with little reward though.
“I encourage all journalists in Eastern and North Eastern regions, especially reporters and correspondents to be more creative and innovative with their hard earned skills to improve their livelihoods and those of their families,” said Omollo.
Omollo further said majority of county journalists in the regions are faced with issues of insecurity, poor infrastructure among other challenges.
He revealed that the remuneration given to most of them was meager compared to the kind of work they do, stating most of the news feeds in both print and electronic within mainstream media were generated by correspondents.
The specialist argued that there was no need for the journalists to have trouble with their employers, and should be more innovative instead.
Omollo told the journalists to take advantage of lots of news available in the counties and community levels to feed other many available platforms that are ready to pay for the news.
He further noted that there were lots of stories down in the communities and Machakos County for example that can not be all consumed by the mainstream media.
Omollo proposed that the journalists’ skills on video production, script writing, professional photography, writing speeches and press releases to relevant personalities should all earn journalists descent livelihoods.