Senior news anchor Samson Kasumba is said to be disillusioned at Next Media, multiple sources at the Naguru based media station, have told Bbeg Media.
We have been told that the effervescent Kasumba who is arguably the most prominent employee of Next Media has been lukewarm at work.
“When he comes he just stays in his car, sometimes he just plays with his phone until the time for anchoring news,” said one of our sources at the Naguru based media house.
This is a far cry from the bubbly and lively Kasumba who used to light up the newsroom with his jokes and unending debates.
Next Media has recently tightened the grip on news anchors who are the face of the station.
Previously, some anchors sauntered into the studio minutes before the bulletin, without adequate preparation which led to bloopers on air.
Now, the station requires those anchoring the news for that week to be at the station at 3.00 pm and attend editorial meetings. However many anchors are not happy about this decision, sources said.
Other sources told us that Kasumba has some issues with one or two people on the senior management team.
“He feels he is not treated well yet he puts in a lot of work and promotes the station at every opportunity,” the source said.
Last year Kasumba abruptly shut his X (former twitter) account which had close to a million followers.
At that time he said he wanted to take time off the social media platform and do other things.
It now appears that this decision could have been fueled by some form of disillusionment.
Kasumba, who makes 50 this year, joined the station in 2016 from Urban Television where he became popular as moderator for the guild presidential race debate. Before that, he lectured Theology at Bugema University and was a businessman.
