Next Media has suspended its senior news anchor Samson Kasumba, following his posts on X warning young people not to participate in yesterday’s demo, sources have told us.
Reliable sources at Naguru told us Kasumba was suspended after a top management meeting yesterday decided that his posts on the demo had breached the Next Media’s Social Media Policy.
Desire Derekford Mugumisa, the head of Corprate Affairs at Next Media confirmed Kasumba’s suspension.
“How did you get it? It is true but really it was a case of violating our social media policy. Our policy is if you can’t say it on air, don’t write it on your pages,” Mugumisa said in an interview with Bbeg Media.
He said Kasumba had been suspended after several meetings in which management had told him to behave “professionally.”
“We are a media house and are neutral. Our journalists should not take positions on matters which they cover because they are going to interview people in support or opposed to certain issues,” Mugumisa said.
In several tweets over the issue, Kasumba poured scorn over the demo and exchanged bitterly with its followers.
Bbeg Media did a story on July 22 capturing these exchanges.
Since the demo was a sensitive political story, we have been told that management felt that the bald-headed news anchor should not have expressed his opinions on the matter.
Kasumba’s suspension follows that of his colleague Simon Njala Kaggwa in June, over similar issues.
