Peter van Onselen, the long running presenter of ANN7's breakfast show, Vuka Africa signed off today for the last time.
He leaves ANN7 to go back to his former broadcast home, etv, where he used to be a bulletin editor. It is not yet clear exaclty what role he would now have at etv/eNCA.
Though ANN7 experienced countless changes over the last three years, the one constant in the equation wass that Peter would be seen anchoring in the morning. In addition to anchoring the morning hours van Onselen has also contributed greatly to the channel's coverage of bigger events like the elections.
On his last bulletin with the channel, Peter tweeted, "My final hour on @ANN7tv . Big highs, big lows. Watch this space...see you on the other side... and Thank You for your support. #3years OUT ."
This means that Express Lunch's Abigal Visagie is the only on air anchor still at ANN7 who has been with the channel since launch.
It is unclear at this moment who will take over Peter's role on Vuka Africa.
ANN7 and its sister newspaper, The New Age, made the headlines today when EFF leader, Julius Malema, stated at a press briefing today that journalists from the two Infinity Media entities are no longer welcomed at EFF events.
Infinity Media, the holding company of ANN7 (DStv 405, ann7.com/livetv) and The New Age, is owned by the controversial Gupta family, who have resurfaced in the media these past few weeks as a result of their close relations with senior ANC officials. Malema, along with members of the EFF, are accusing the two media entities (which share the same editor, Moegsien Williams) of not conducting proper reporting, but are instead acting as a mouthpiece for the Gupta family in the same way as 'Naspers did for the Apartheid government.' Furthermore, he stated that individuals working for these orgamisations would 'not be safe' at EFF events.
[You can see Malema's full media briefing by clicking here. (eNCA)]
The move was met, expectedly, by uproar from members of the press, with the South African National Editors Forum (SANEF) commenting on the story throughout the day to media houses, including having a representitive present at both ANN7 and SABC News Channel's debates around the issue. SANEF stated that it was unacceptable for any political party to intimidate journalists.
The ruling party's spokesperson, Zizi Kodwa, also condemned the comments made by Malema, going further to state that these comments incite violence and goes against the same constitution that allows Malema to be in parliament.
ANN7 and the New Age's editor-in-chief, Moegsien Williams, appeared on ANN7 throughout the day to comment on the matter. Speaking to Karabo Yibe on ANN7's Good Evening SA, Moegsien stated, "[The statements] reminds me a lot of Donald Trump in the United States who wants to ban Muslims and throw reporters out of press conferences.He is our very own Donald Trump and I worry about that kind of language when we have an election coming up."
ANN7
Ironically, ANN7 was the only tv channel broadcasting the comments made by Malema on live tv. eNCA only streamed the event in its entirety. However, once the comments were made, ANN7's assistant editor on duty decided to cut the feed to the event from the broadcast, whilst the journalists from ANN7 that attended the event remained behind.
ANN7 covered the story throughout the day. As aforementioned, editor Moegsien Williams appeared multiple times on air throughout the day to discuss the issue. The channel's ANN7 Prime debate of the day centered on the issue.
On the panel was Williams, who was joined by William Bird (Director, Media Monitoring Africa) and Moshoeshoe Monare (council member, SANEF).
Monare stated that it was unacceptable for a political party to victimise journalists based on who owns the media house they work for. He further echoed the sentiment of SANEF that Malema's remarks threaten freedom of expression.
Bird stated that if the party had issues with the media house, they should have raised the issue with management, not deal with it in the manner that they did.
Oddly, at the end of the debate, when it was time to reveal viewers' reply to the Question of the Day, "Can we allow Malema to incite hate against media organization?" more than two thirds of viewers who participated the poll voted 'yes,' which must have been very awkward for anchor Peter van Onselen to make sense of.
SABC News Channel
SABC News had an in depth discussion on the matter on their recently launched, really well done, new program, On The Record with Vuyo Mvoko. The discussion had a representitive of the EFF present, Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, and a representitive from the South African national Editor's forum, Adriaan Basson, present.
Ndlozi continued to echo the sentiment among EFF members today that The New Age and ANN7 are not media, but instead are 'the communications department of the Gupta family masqerading as independent journalism.' He further stated that these news outlets serve only to normalise and legitimise the Guptas in South Africa today. He also stated that the EFF is conscious of the fact that this action puts the journalists that work at ANN7 and The New Age in the crossfire. Ndlozi did say these journalists are welcomed to EFF events in their personal capacity, but may not come in the name of the news outlets owned by the Gupta family.
Basson stated that SANEF are disappointed by the actions of the EFF and have previously perceived them to be welcoming to members of the press. He stated the organisation thought the actions were wrong and against the freedom of media freedom.
eNCA
South Africa's most watched news channel, eNCA, only covered the story as one element of the bigger story regarding the EFF's planned march against Zuma and the Guptas. In the report which included these comments from Malema, eNCA only ever mentioned 'media organisations owned by the Guptas,' not once referring to ANN7 or The New Age by name. A channel that stands up for press freedom in other countries barely gave airtime for press freedom here. [They really displayed a total lack of support to a fellow news organisation, even though that news organisation is a distant third to them when it comes to viewership, so they should not have feared losing many viewers by merely saying the word 'ANN7' on air ]
ANN7's primetime news bulletin now has another anchor, Peter van Onselen.
This follows Sebenzile Nkambule's silent exit from the channel at the start of the festive season. Since then, lunchtime anchor Chante Jantjies did primetime coverage over the festive season with Peter taking over in what is his now permanent slot from the 28th of December 2015.
Sebenzile had taken over the bulletin just a few months prior when Nzinga Qunta vacated that position, citing that she could not cope as a full time student and prime time news anchor simultaneously. Sebe then maintained two jobs: ANN7 prime anchor and 4am anchor on PowerFM, a position she still holds. But going by social media, Sebe almost never made it known that she was an ANN7 anchor, never promoting interviews or coverage on social networks like Twitter.
Before anchoring ANN7 Prime, van Onselen had been anchoring Vuka Africa since September 2013 and prior to that was a bulletin editor at what is now eNCA.
This now leaves Abigail Visagie as the solo anchor of ANN7's breakfast show, Vuka Africa, which airs weekdays between 6am and 8am.
The format of ANN7 Prime remains largely unchanged, with news headlines, debate and interviews, the only bulletin to do so on a daily basis.
As one would expect, each of South Africa's24 hour news channels covered the election of Mmusi Maimane as the new leader of official opposition, the Democratic Alliance.
eNCA's coverage was anchored by Cathy Mohlahlana in Johannesburg, who was joined in studio by eNCA Commentator, Angelo Fick, who has been providing analysis all weekend long already. Joanne Josephs anchored things from Port Elizabeth. After Maimane's inaugurate address, eNCA was the first to interview him immediately after.
ANN7's coverage of the event was anchored by Vuka Afrka anchor, Peter van Onselen in their studio. Reporter, Ken Brandt was on the ground for the channel.
While eNCA had the first interview with the newly elected Mmusi Maimane, SABC News Channel (which was simulcast on SABC2) had the first interview with out going DA leader, Helen Zille. Though the interview had what one would expect about the transition of power in the DA, the crux of the interview came down to Allistair Sparks' controversial comment when he mentioned Apartheid architect, Hendrik Verwoed as one of the 'smartest politicians' he knew. One comment from Zille that stood out in this damage control interview was "Evil people are not necessarily stupid people" and that was, as she termed it, 'scary.' The interview was conducted by the SABC's anchor for the day, contributing editor, Vuyo Mvoko, who was also in Port Elizabeth
Abigail Visagie and Peter van Onselen having fun on the ANN7 Set [pic from @AbigailVisagie_]
Abigail Visagie has now finally made the jump from ANN7's Express Lunch to Vuka Africa, where she now anchors alongside senior anchor Peter van Onselen between 6am and 9am.
The move comes just over a week since the move was first announced, then delayed for a week, before finally happening today, March 9th.
The move also makes Vuka Africa ANN7's only co anchored news bulletin, as everything else is solo anchored.
Vuka Africa was, at inception, a two anchor show with Gerry Rantseli Eldson as the main anchor that did all the interviews while Avumile Qongqo read the headlines. Then, as we all know, Gerry left and Avumile became a full time reporter and Vuka Africa became a straight news bulletin anchored by Peter van Onselen.
With Abigail in the mix, it is expected that there will be more 'soft' news topics on the programme's schedule.
Juliet Newell now takes over Abigail's old slot of Express Lunch, and keeps her own slot, a 30 minute bulletin at 2, as well. Karabo Yibe stays in her late afternoon slot.
In an unexpected move, ANN7 (DStv 405) will be shaking up its early day schedule by moving current Express Lunch (and Mid Morning Prime) anchor, Abigail Visagie, up to the breakfast show, Vuka Africa.
At Vuka Africa, which airs daily between 6 am and 9am, she will sit alongside longtime Vuka Africa anchor, Peter van Onselen. This now means that Vuka Africa becomes the only ANN7 show to feature two anchors as hosts (which will be interesting to see how the squeezed behind that odd table).
Though both of them may be pushing the move as if it is a promotion, what is actually going on is that Abigail now clears the lunchtime slot, meaning that there will now no longer be anchors that anchor only a mere half an hour show due to the channel having too many weekday anchors and not enough time.
Abigail has, of course, been with ANN7 since inception as one of the many young females the channel had try out on air and has moved around slots a few times before settlingon what is now known as Express Lunch.
It is ecpected that Juliet Newell would be announced as the new Express Lunchhost, though that is not set in stone yet.
All South African news channels, with the exception of Business Day TV, carried Nhlanhla Nene's first Mid Term Budget Speech live.
eNCA had business anchor Arabile Gumede stationed in a studio at parliament from where he had a panel breaking down and analysing the budget speech while reporter Paula Chowles provided on the ground reaction from various oposition party members and also ANC members. Notably absent from coverage is senior anchor Andrew Barnes, who is based in Cape Town and usually anchors News Day during those hours. eNCA was the first channel to dip out of rolling cverage at 3:30pm, with analysis to follow during news bulletins throughout the rest of the day. Arabile is also slated to talk to the Minister of Finance during the 4pm hour.
ANN7 Mid Term Budget Panel
ANN7 had breakfast anchor Peter van Onselen co-anchoring with the new primetime business anchor from the Johannesburg studios with one analst in studio. Peter did most of the anchoring despite it being an anchoring duo. They provided mainly analysis of the budget and had the minimum amount of live on the ground coverage from parliament.
SABC News Mid Term Budget Panel
On SABC News, the lunchtime news team (which is a business-centric news bulletin in any case) provided live on the ground coverage from parliament in what I must say is the best studio at parliament: there is decent lighting, decent space and a decent view. They were joined by various in studio analysts and also had a few reporters on the ground getting reaction from MP's as they leave parliament (and look for reports as some of them appeared on all three news channels). Their coverage was also simulcast on SABC2.
CNBC Africa also hosted a budget panel from their studio in Johannesburg.
ANN7, eNCA and SABC News (simulcast on SABC 2) all carried rolling coverage of South African President, Jacob Zuma's, second inauguration. This is a review across all three broadcasters.
Firstly, I have been watching live news coverage for many years, and this is the first time I have ever noticed something happening across all three channels: The broadcast and its quality and content totally transformed at 9am. Watching the 6am-9am coverage, I was already planning what I will be writing in the review, but then at 9am, all three news channels switched anchors, reporters, styles, and even program names. The 6am-9am slots are totally different from the 9am-1pm slots in nature. This is in contrast to previous events that had rolling coverage (elections, funerals, etc) where the broadcasters would traditionally aim for as much consistency as possible across the full event and its coverage.
The rest of the review will therefore review the events as two events: 6am-9am
Leanne Manas
On SABC News, the Morning Live team that usually does the show in the week did this special weekend edition of the show. Leanne Manas anchored the broadcast along with Ayanda-Allie Paine, who returned today from study leave. These two really put up an authentically great, feel good broadcast, undoubtedly the most positive of all broadcasts at the time. Yes, you could argue the SABC is the "mouthpiece" of the ANC, but what made this broadcast truly exceptional was that they took the event for exactly what it was: an inauguration. As such, they were totally void of the over analysis that plagued eNCA and just enjoyed the event, broadcasting directly from the Union Buildings covering the event from all angles, including speaking to pilots that would be part of the fly over, spoke about fashion, a bit of background, speaking to everyday citizens and discussing the guests as they arrived. As they controlled the "official" feed of the event, they had the greatest degree of seamlessness between the show and the feed that was made available to all channels, which ultimately contributed to an overall great broadcast. They also aired an exceptional piece by Ayanda-Allie Paine interviewing the man of the hour himself, Jacob Zuma, over a game of chess in what I must say is the most revealing interview I have ever seen about Jacob Zuma the man.
ANN7 also provided what seems to be developing into the channels reputation these days: none stop, rolling and exceptional coverage of live political events. Today was also the first time I actually enjoyed the channels often annoying use of way too much boxes on screen at the same time: it allowed you to see as many views of the event at the same time. They had what seemed to be the perfect balance between analysing Jacob Zuma's task ahead and the event itself, along with reports stationed seemingly everywhere around the Union Buildings.
eNCA was a total opposite of the above. Instead of enjoying, and covering the event, the channel did what is seeming to become standard for the channel: just critiquing Zuma along with one single analyst in their studio. The same type of critiquing could be kept for any other day, but they had to put it on today. Uveka Rangappa, who had taken Friday off, anchored the show from their studio, seeming to keep live crossings to a minimum in a broadcast that was really nothing special. At a later stage of the broadcast, they did put the "official" feed on the screen in the studio, but it was too small to really enjoy what was happening. They also took more ad breaks than any other channel.
Watching eNCA's coverage and comparing it to the other two channels made me feel sorry for myself. This is had this inauguration been exactly one year earlier, this channel would have been the only news channel in the country and this flimsy coverage they provided really would not have been able to give the event the coverage it desired as we were just constantly subjected to talking heads none stop while there were other things that could have been talked about instead of the things that they spoke about that, though was relevant, had nearly nothing to do with the event. This really makes me think about which events were covered like this in the past when they were the only channel available. 9am-1pm
Peter Ndoro anchored coverage from the studio
Graphics used for this event was just one of the other graphic packages used in recent months
Vuyo Mvoko anchored coverage from the union Buildings
At just before 9am Leanne Manas handed over to the next anchor on SABC News in quite a creative way, interview him first as if he were any other guess and at some point Vuyo Mvoko just doesn't stop talking and Leanne is gone (along with the graphics quietly being changed) to reflect that Morning Live was no longer on air (this was the only show that used its own brand identity on air). Prime time news reader Peter Ndoro anchored from the studio, though only for very short moments. It was overall a good broadcast, though nothing particularly spectacular and lacking the energy seen in the three hours before it. I was disappointed that their coverage ended promptly at 1pm. As a state broadcatser, one would expect them to go above and beyond to broadcast official state events, but ironically they were the first broadcaster to stop covering the event. Their near total lack of ad breaks was something to be appreciated.
At 9am Vuka Africa anchor Peter van Onselen tooka over duties on ANN7 live from the studio. He was joined by countless reporters at the Union Buildings. He had one guest in studio whom he consulted with, though unlike eNCA, was not the focus, but rather a means to fill "dead" time, which there was very little of considering how much they had to talk about the various African leaders that were arriving. Senior Political Reporter, Hajra Omarjee, once again became a sort of a second anchor live from the Union Buildings with her guests there. I really enjoyed how they allowed the actual event to be the star, having the reporters and anchors only in smll boxes, never cutting away from the official feed. Their vision mixing was exceptional between various camera angles and split screens to ensure you get to see it all, along with stock footage of the likes of Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki's inaugurations. At 1pm there a quick recap of other news before returning to the concert on the Southern lawns, usually listening to one song on stage followed by one news item, though very rarely leaving the feed from the concert. Their exceptional coverage was spoilt when they opted to go to taped programming at 1:30pm instead of staying with events.
Amazing pic from Iman's Twitter
eNCA carried the concert in between reports and ad breaks (which were plenty)
Jeremy Maggs with his often quirky in studio panel
The concert was broadcasted untouched on enca.com
eNCA improved the most from 9am. Jeremy Maggs took over in studio with Iman Rappetti with analysts Justice Malala and Chris Maroleng (who, now that I think about it, contributed very little to election coverage considering what a great journo he is). This team was really great, balancing lighthearted banter with analysis with substance. Iman also pushed the two out for an interview of famous singers like Donald in what was a rather good interview that focussed on the youth, not forgetting a joke on Jeremy Maggs' taste in music, as has become standard with the two on News Night. Overall, it was better coverage than the three hours before, thought hey still had periods of in studio coverage that was just too long, including what was a really good interview on the architecture of the Union Buildings. Their coverage also simulcast on eTV from 11am-1pm, though their actual coverage went well beyond that with a balance of the concert, a few good inserts about the likes of the flag and Nelson Mandela, and also what seems like just too many ad breaks. They also had Cathy Mohlanhlana and Gareth Edwards on the South lawns, where it was just odd seeing Cathy switching between being a reporter and then all of a sudden an ancho
The youngest news channel in the country, ANN7, has really gained popularity for what has been very in depth election coverage. One could argue hat building up to the elections, they had more coverage than both eNCA and SABC News.
The channel, who has mainly previously unknown on air talent (along with quite a few people that jumped ship from the likes of eNCA), has really put on excellent coverage from the crack of dawn, when usual breakfast anchor Peter van Onselen carried the hours 6am to 10am after doing prime time anchoring just the night before. Their coverage consisted of a decent mix of broadcasting from their studios in Midrand and the IEC Election Centre. They also mainly used the graphics package associated with one of their main election programs, SA Decides
From 10-12pm, the host of their daily elections program, SA Decides, took over from him in the studio. I really liked that they had her play a pivotal role throughout their coverage. They really shouldn't drop the ball on this.
I was however disappointed in the role played by editor in chief Moegsien Williams' role in the coverage. He was just a panelist during the 12-2pm slot. Gladys Sithole, the channel's weekend prime time anchor was up next, anchoring from 2pm-4pm
Senior Anchor Chantal Rutter Dros anchored from the IEC Election Centre from 6pm to 9pm where she had an exceptional panel with her, along with senior political Hajra Omarjeee anchored from their studio. Hajra had a particularly busy day: part anchor, part analyst and part reporter. She really has been one of the bigger stars of this election.
Amazing pic from Hajra Omarjee's Twitter
At 9pm when the votes closed, they brought the too large and distracting election graphics that have been used for Election Tracker back, for the first hour or so just flashing zeros.
Desmond Tutu voting live. While he had usually been covered as a prominent politician would when they voted, this time around only ANN7 covered him voting live.
Overall, I must say that their panelists that they had on during the day weren't all that bright, though some were quite good and they had too few of them on to the point that they had been on air for quite a few hours and after a while one can notice that they have screen fatigue. But they more than made up for this on their live shots and inserts(even though some were done using internet connections, which I am not too fond of), including showing all of the bigger politicans voting live. They were also the only channel to show Desmond Tutu voting live as the others were showing a largely uneventful news briefing from the IEC Centre. They had exceptional shots of the voting lines from their chopper and reallyu gave you a on the ground feel of the elections. At the end of the night, they had a sort of highlights package of the days events that was well produced considering the amount of content that had to be editied in that short period of time. It is really hard to think that the same channel that was so horrendous just a few months ago could produce election coverage of the calibre that they did.
They were also able to get guests of quite a high caliber on the channel, including Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and even Police Commisioner Riah Phiyega to give an update of if there had been any incidents thus far. Her interview was quite a while.
Watching their coverage of the build up to and post elections has really made me question whether Ann7 might just be the place to go for politics in the South African media. They have gained great momentum during the elections coverage, it is now up to them to build on it. Them building on it is going to be a news junkies dream to follow.
