2017 saw the beginning of a transformation stage for Next Media Services (NMS) that has set it on a very serious journey. With an aim of creating products that will improve the whole media industry, NMS has embarked on a new innovation that will give the rest of the media houses a run for their money, because just when you think they’re out of new ideas, something better comes up. They’ve proven to be the only brand to tower over the industry.
Wednesday morning, Next Media CEO, Kin Kariisa announced the newest addition to the family, ‘Next Media Academy’ that is aimed at improving skills for in-house talent as well as people who are yearning to practice journalism; “We are creating this academy to improve our skills and those of the industry as well. We realized even other media houses need to benefit from our transformation because when the entire industry is demonized, we all go down,” Kin Kariisa said.
He further noted that the academy is going to be the leading school in East Africa as NMS continues to partner with VOA (NBS & VOA have been partners for over 3 years, sharing news, trainings and resources) to build this academy. It’ll attract students from across East Africa, a niche that is embodied in their vision; “To be the leading multi-media group for EA”.
During the announcement, John Baptist Imokola was unveiled as the head of the academy. He initially led the newsroom, but this new project calls for undivided attention. He handed over the office to his mentee Joyce Bagala, a renowned luganda news anchor (Amasengejje). Joyce has inherited a great team of dedicated reporters and the heart of the station. With her media background, we only hope to see the station moving upward and forward.
The newest member to the top management team (TMT) of NMS is a female which now strikes a balance of gender representation for the company; this brings it to 6 females and 6 males. Next Media services is a leading holding company for leading brands which include NBS TV, Salam TV, Sanyuka TV, Nile Post, Nile Cat, Next Communications and DreamCatcher Production.
