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NMG’s Kalinaki elected Eastern Africa Editors’ Society president
Journalist Daniel Kalinaki. PHOTO/HANDOUT
What you need to know:
- The Eastern Africa Editors' Society (EAES) was established in 2021 with the aim of promoting journalistic integrity, press freedom, and professional standards in journalism.
The chair of Uganda Editors' Guild as well as Nation Media Group Uganda’s (NMG-U) General Manager Editorial, Daniel Kalinaki, was Friday elected president of the Eastern Africa Editors' Society (EAES) in Zambia’s capital Lusaka.
Representatives from editorial associations of Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia chose Kalinaki to lead EAES for the next 12 months, succeeding Churchill Otieno, Kenya Editors' Guild's immediate past chief.
In his new position, Kalinaki will lead the society's initiatives to promote cooperation and collaboration among editors in the region where press freedom is threatened.
“The need for editors to cooperate and collaborate within and across borders has never been greater- given the challenges facing the media industry,” Kalinaki said.
“I am grateful for the confidence of my peers and for the tremendous work Otieno has put into getting the society off the ground,” he added.
Kalinaki has a distinguished career spanning 25 years in the newsroom.
His portfolio includes works with this publication, Nation Television (NTV Uganda), and radio stations KFM and Dembe FM.
He previously oversaw the operations of The East African newspaper and NMG’s Africa newsroom, expanding his experience and understanding of the region's media landscape.
Meantime, the society's governing council has concurrently appointed Otieno as the executive director of the EAES Executive Committee for a four-year term beginning June 2023.
In the 2023 Reporters Without Borders (RSF) global press index, Uganda dropped one position to 133 from 132 in the ranking that reflects the degree of freedom that journalists and news organisations have across 180 countries and territories.
Burundi is the top-ranked nation in East Africa, coming at position 114, ahead of Kenya which is at 116 and South Sudan occupying the 118th rank.
"This instability is a result of increased aggressiveness on the part of the authorities in many countries and growing hostility towards journalists on social media and in the real world," said Christophe Deloir, Secretary-General of the press freedom watchdog, RSF.
The Eastern Africa Editors' Society provides a forum for editors from various Eastern African nations to interact, share ideas, and work toward the shared objectives of preserving journalistic integrity and fostering high-quality journalism in the region.
Background
The Eastern Africa Editors' Society (EAES) was established in 2021 with the aim of promoting journalistic integrity, press freedom, and professional standards in journalism.
The EAES is made up of editors' guilds and forums from Eastern African countries, such as Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Ethiopia.
