ANN7 Goes All Out with Election coverage

It is shaping up to be a David vs Goliath battle this election season: The couragous David, ANN7, taking on a somewhat arrogant Goliath, eNCA (arrogant in the way how chief Patrick Conroy constantly ridicules ANN7's tiny viewership figures on Twitter, showing a great degree of unprofessionalism).

What ANN7 lacks in overall production values is more than made up in how they covering the elections (and their presentation overall).

Their main political show, Political Edge with Hajra Omarjee has been extended to a full hour on Sundays (8pm).

 

Another addition to their schedule is a daily two hour show called SA Decides at 5pm, where a total of 45 "media professionals" (I am using the term in quotation marks as that is the term referred to by the channel and I am unable to verify its validity at this point) has spread out to all nine provinces (5 per province) to get a feel of what the mood in the country is like ahead of the elections and ensuring that people have their voices heard. I really admire their efforts, but thi production comes across very much as a travelshow/educational-show-on-SABC/community tv show type of a program and not a professional news production. Maybe it is because the 'journalists' are not formally attired or just the overall presentation, but for now I am going to see how things go

 

"It's my first time doing this. For me it's gonna give me the exposure that I need." Statements like this by the journalist above is sure to raise skepticism on the show.

This past week, they ran special programs in prime time from 8pm to 10pm, Election Tracker, co-anchored by prime time anchor Chantal Rutter Dros and Editor-in-Chief, Moegsien Williams. I hadn't heard of Mr Williams before this week as I had not seen him on the telly before, so a quick Google search revealed that he has quite a journalistic pedigree behind his name having previously been editor at Independent Newspapers. The special were about a first-of-its kind in South Africa poll on election projections and were quite well done. 

“SA Decides” Election Tracker. Picture: TNA

I really have to give it to these guys with the guests that they had on these shows (and on ANN7 Prime in general) as all larger political parties were represented, and some smaller ones as well took part in this debate. I really found it nice that they openly debated the lack of tv time the smaller parties are receiving on SABC News, as usually eNCA and SABC themselves often do not often even acknowledge the existance of their competition (at least on air). They had so much guests, that they could not fit everyone onto the main set and had to instead cross over to people that were in the same newsroom as themselves. 

I also enjoy how journalists and anchors now walk through the newsroom during presentations, talking to statisticians, , adding a very lively dimension and a feeling of immediacy to their presentations.