Twelve journalists have graduated from the Standard Group Academy, a prestigious training programme that takes young and budding journalists through several months of intense multimedia training at the Aga Khan University, Graduate School of Media and Communications.
The graduates were selected from the 220 shortlisted candidates last year before embarking on six months of rigorous multimedia training at the university. The multimedia training was also combined with a concurrent mentorship programme, under which the trainee journalists were paired with mentors, including senior editors and experienced journalists at the Standard Group to guide and advise them.
With the training, the journalists are set to transform content at Standard.
"The programme is designed to create visionary leadership and enhance capacity to discover innovative solutions to current and future problems, focusing on local and addressing global issues," stated Soraya Shah, the Senior Broadcast Manager at the Aga Khan University.
At the Aga Khan University, the graduates were trained by a seasoned team, with many of the trainers being respected and seasoned journalists with experience reporting in Kenya and globally.
Standard Group's Human Relations director Nicholas Siwatom termed the graduation of the journalists and their subsequent entry into Standard a new phase for the company.
"We have been taught a lot on different platforms and we are confident that we will be able to deliver in all these platforms. This is the best curriculum," said Emmanuel Too, one of the 12 graduates.
Wilfred Ayego, one of the parents of the graduates, hailed Standard Group for offering opportunities to young people and using a fair recruitment process.
Standard Group Head of News Kipkoech Tanui expressed confidence that the training offered to the journalists has prepared them for the difficult task ahead as Standard Group moves towards 24-hour content production.
Standard Group's Editor-in-chief Ochieng Rapuro reminded the journalists about the great responsibility that comes with journalism.
"There is a very aggressive attempt to blow dust on our faces and smoke the room so we don't see clearly what journalism is about, and that is what you have to change by sticking to responsible journalism.”
Over the years, Standard Group has been known to mould young reporters, transforming them into competitive journalists. Previous training programmes sponsored by the firm have produced some of Kenya's best journalists, many of whom have gone on to produce award-winning stories.
"Although we assign them particular platforms we know that they can perform competently across board. Going forward, we will be deploying these skills across all our platforms under the business transformation project we have kicked off this year," Standard Group Chief Executive Officer Orlando Lyomu said in a speech.
"They are also trained to understand audiences and produce varied content as per the demands and needs of our consumers," added Lyomu, noting that this training was essential in empowering the journalists to source for content in a way that is ethical and socially aware.
The graduates will next week start reporting for different platforms of the Standard Group, including print publications, television, radio and digital.
