Benjamin Leshoro Out At ANN7

Benjamin Leshoro with Mahreen Chenia on his last day

ANN7 sports anchor, Benjamin Leshoro, has left the Midrand based news organisation.

His last day at ANN7 was this past Friday, April 24th.

Leshoro has been part of ANN7 since inception. Initially a sports reporter, he would eventually become the anchor of Total Footbal on Mondays and Fridays and the sports anchor on Vuka Africa.

The first ssign of his departure came a few weeks ago when his Twitter handle changed from @Benji_ANN7 to @Benji_Sports with any mention of ANN7 removed from his Twitter Bio. Next, he was removed from anchoring sports on Vuka Africa when that show became a dual anchored breakfast show a few weeks ago. Finally, Total Football disappeared from the ANN7 schedule, replaced with a general news bulletin.

On his departure he Tweeted, "Today I left @ANN7tv with a heavy heart. But proud of my contribution there and how far we've come since the 21st Of August 2013. Salute." His colleague, 'Game On!' presenter Mahreen Chenia posted on Instagram, "I am going to miss this guy so much! You are so talented and I can see only great things in the future for you.I am going to miss all the laughs, all the racist comments, religious talks and debates. Most of all I will miss my friend. See you soon comrade. All the best you ❤️❤️❤️."

Leshoro says he doesn't yet know what his next chapter holds.
 

NDTV Providing Excellent Coverage of Nepal Earthquake

NDTV, DStv 413, is providing excellent round the clock on the ground coverage of the devastating earthquake that rocked Nepal and parts of Northern India as well.

While international channels like CNN are dependent on people from the region calling in to the channel by phone or Skype and on pictures from news wires like Reuters, NDTV is able to not only have a few reporters on the ground, but had many shows anchored from Nepal quite soon after the first Earthquake hit. Some of their reporters have been embedded with recovery services and provided a first hand account of what is occuring.

Do give them a try if you looking for Earthquake coverage.

[CNN's Becky Anderson is on her way to the region from the UAE]

Jake Tapper Announced as New Host of State of the Union

CNN (DStv 401) has announced that Senior Washington Correspondent, Jake Tapper, will take up the position of permanent host of their Sunday politics show, State of the Union.

This follows months after long time host, Candy Crowley, unceremoniously left CNN late last year, with many inside sources claiming she was pushed out.

Since then, the Sunday show, which airs live in the afternoon here in South Africa followed by a repeat later at night, has been hosted by a rotating group of guest hosts, all of which hold positions within CNN currently.

 Tapper joined CNN at the end of 2012 from the US's ABC News and has been covering news from Washington, D.C. for over 14 years. Early in 2013 he launched The Lead, a daily news show on CNN in the US that is often critically acclaimed as being the best news show on cable news.

 “I am thrilled that Jake will take on this additional role at such a pivotal time in the election cycle,” CNN president Jeff Zucker said in a statement. “He has the perfect combination of skills that make him uniquely qualified — he’s a relentless reporter, a gifted storyteller, and a terrific interviewer who doesn’t stop until he gets answers. We are lucky to have him on both ‘The Lead’ [which airs on the US version of CNN] and ‘State of the Union.'”


He is not entirely unknown to South African viewers though. Whenever there is major breaking news events from the U.S. or around the world, he would often step in as anchor, and during last year's US mid term elections he co-anchored the channel's coverage with Anderson Cooper and Wolf Blitzer.

Jake Tapper takes over as the new host of CNN's State of the Union in June.

CNN Announces Broadcast Plans For UK Elections, Including Special 'Interactive' Debate this Friday Evening

CNNi, DStv 401, has announced their broadcast plans for the May 7th UK Elections.

The channel's coverage on the evening will be anchored by The World Right Now's Hala Gorani and also Max Foster who will be anchoring from across the Thames from the Palace of Westminster, providing viewers with on the ground coverage on what is to be the UK's most hotly contested election in quite a few years. 

The eccentric Richard Quest from Quest Means Business will fly to London and provide rolling reportage from the top of one of London's signature open top buses as it travels around the city to voter hotspots picking up a diverse group of guests en route.

Chief International Correspondent, Christiane Amanpour will be stationed outside the House of Parliament where she will be joined by analysts who will be providing commentary throughout the night.

The Business View's Nina dos Santos will be in the comfort of the CNN London studio from which she will be doing the number crunching and touch screen analysis that is now standard with the coverage of any election. 

Lastly, correspondent Phil Black will be stationed in Edinbugh  providing insight as things unfold for the Scottish national Party. 


[Noticeably absent from the coverage is Becky Anderson]

The coverage will go right through the night, preempting all scheduled programming including all programmes anchored by the anchors of the covergae and also shows like CNN Today with Michael Holmes and Amara Walker and also Anderson Cooper 360, which airs at 2am.

But before then, CNN will be broadcasting a special interactive debate with the contenders in the election this Friday evening, April 24th, anchored by Christiane Amanpour and Max Foster.

Conservative peer Baroness Neville Jones, Labour’s Chris Bryant, Liberal Democrat peer Lord Steel, UKIP’s Louise Bours, and the SNP’s Humza Yousaf will participate in the debate.

The debate will take place at the McLaren Technology Group’s new Thought Leadership Centre, in front of a specially selected audience designed to represent the UK electorate.

As part of the debate the studio audience will be invited to give its take on key issues, with the results displayed in real time on the debate floor.  Topics such as immigration, Europe, the health service, the economy, and Britain’s place in the world are up for discussion.

Gill Penlington, Director of Programming, EMEA, at CNN International said in a statement: “There is huge interest in the UK election from an international perspective, especially with so many issues that transcend this country’s borders.  This debate is the perfect chance to explore those issues, as well as get a genuinely representative picture of the UK electorate’s views on them.  It should be a fascinating debate at a key point in the campaign.”

The debate airs this Friday on CNNi (DStv 401) at 8pm.

Gladys Sithole Wins Big at the MTN Radio Awards

Gladys Sithole along with Marc Chase at the 2015 MTN Radio Awards

Gladys Sithole, currently the host of ANN7's Africa Tonight, took home the award of 'Best Newsreader: Community' at the 2015 MTN Radio Awards this past Saturday, April 19th.

The award is for work she has been doing at the recently launched Hot 91.9fm where she has been a newsreader under the mentorship of the excellent Marc Chase (himself a TV news guy at eTV's Sunrise), whom she thanked in an emotional post on Instagram after the awards ceremony.

Gladys Sithole Went From
Vixen To Excellent Newsreader

Her work at Hot 91.9fm is not her first work on radio, however. She was also newsreader at the University of Johannesburg's radio team whilst studying a BA in Psychology there.

Prior to joining ANN7, which she has been part of in different roles since the channel's inception, she was one of the contestants on Vuzu's now long cancelled controversial and unsavoury reality show, Vixens.

She joined ANN7 back in 2013 and was one of the over 20 models given the chance to be newsrea
ders, many of whom ended up as Youtube stars for their uhm, stumbles during those trials.

If you watch an episode of Africa Tonight on ANN7 especially with the xenophobic situation currently seen in South Africa,no one would know that Gladys has only been doing this kind of thing for just over a year nor that she is not even a journo by degree. Seeing her grow as a news anchor is why I don't really mind models making the jump to a journalistic like role (though I do dislike it if they enter shows like Big Brother and Top Actor whilst expecting to be taken seriously as a news anchor).

But then again, not everyone has that ability to make the transition like she did. As she said in an interview to  TVSA back in 2010, "I excel in all I do and look damn good when doing it." It's going to be interesting to see this young news anchor continue to grow in an age when many young people are just not that interested in the news.

A full list of all the winners at the 2015 MTN Radio Awards can be found here

'Soft' News Roundup

Firstly, Mzansi Magic's Please Call me has returned to air for its second season on the 18th of April 2015. Here are the main changes to the show:

• The name of the show: From Pls Call Me to Please Call Me
• The show went from airing on Mzansi Magic Music to Mzansi Magic, meaning that the Music channel now has no original presenter-driven shows.
• The show also saw upgrades to its production values: It no longer seems as if it is shot on a cell phone, now having better picture quality, new graphics and a new studio. it now airs from the studio used for Vinnie's House and Channel O's Bassment. 
• The biggest change is the actual presenters. Nestum, Pulie and V Mash are out. They are replaced by Bob Mabena, Thembi Seete and Mandla from Mandla and Lexi.

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eTV is adding a new celeb gossip show called Hush, which starts on April 23rd at 6pm (Ekse Lets Talk loses a day). It will be hosted by  Refilwe Modiselle and Zola Hashatsi. The show will feature 'exclusive' interviews with celeb news makers. They are promising to ask the questions everyone wants answered to which in all honesty is what all other similar shows promise to do.
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  Starting this Tuesday, Ekse Lets Talk rebrands to Ekse Zwakala and sees Pabi Moloi and Dineo Moeketsi join the ensemble that speaks about topics relevant to South Africans. Tol Ass Mo and Philip Malepa remain part of the team.
The interesting thing though is that Dineo's other show, V Entertainment airs at the exact same time as Ekse. It will be interesting to see if she will be hosting V Entertainment on a Tuesday or Wednesday live while appearing on a taped show on a competing channel. Which show will she ask her 139 thousand Twitter followers to watch? Lets wait and see.
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ANN7's Face in the Crowd with Abigail Visagie returned for season 2 this past Saturday, 18th April. It is now a full 30 minute show and not just an extended segment on her news bulletin. The show, which is the brain child of host, Abigail Visagie, aims to inspire young South Africans to reach for their dreams. On its premiere, Abigail Tweeted, "Hahaha! Nervous and happy and scared and excited all at the same time! I hope you guys love it as much as I do!" Face in the Crowd airs on ANN7 (DStv 405) on Saturdays at 10am and repeats again at 9:30pm.
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ANN7 Anchor Contestant on... Big Brother?!

I really cannot make stuff like this up.

While watching Big Brother Mzansi this past Friday (don't as why), I noticed a face and a name that was very familiar to me, as a news guy... Mbali Nkosi.

If you do not know who she is, here is a picture:

And this is the banner on her Big Brother profile:

Yes, ANN7's weekend prime time anchor is a contestant on Big Brother Mzansi. Her profile on the Big Brother website highlights her work on Rockville, Zabalaza and Idols, but openly ignores the fact that she has been the weekend anchor on what is a news channel, something viewers are supposed to take seriously, up until a few weeks ago when she left to, well, enter the controversial house.

She is not the first ANN7 anchor to appear on a reality show. Late night anchor Lauren Jenae is a contestant on BET's Top Actor as well, again, something that has nothing to do with journalism or news.

This is also in addition to ANN7's anchor search competition, all of which seem to indicate that ANN7 is actually making an effort to not be taken seriously, which is sad considering that there are quite a few serious reporters and anchors at the channel.

The acting business is a tough business and for these people who are clearly young actors, not anchors, to have this gig on a news channel that pays a somewhat stable wage is helpful when going through that initial struggle phase. But do you know what other people also have to go through a tough initial phase and can do with a anchoring job on a news channel other than young actors? Young journalists. Just saying.

Xenophobic Violence Makes Headline on CNNi's Amanpour

The current Xenophobic outbreak seen across South Africa headlined today's edition on CNNi's (DStv 401) flagship programme, Amanpour (guest hosted by CNN Correspondent Fred Pleitgen ).

Minister of Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba, was the first guest on the programme, and straight off the bat mentioned that South Africa welcomes immigrants from across the South African continent and that they [ SA citizens I suppose] appreciate their contribution to the country's economy and that nothing justifies the current violence. He also mentioned that the president has put together a task team to deal with the issue.  He then spoke about what has been done, including who they met with, including the Zulu king and groups representing foreigners.

Fred then asked whether the fact that the government was helping those that want to leave the country do so sent a message that they not really wanted in South Africa, to which Gigaba responded that they doing this to not put these individuals in harm's way. Gigaba also mentioned that it was an 'exaggeration' that the leadership of South Africa contributed to the current situation.

The next guest was 'popular' political commentator Eusibius McKaiser [who appeared on SABC3's 3 Talk with Noleen for the final time earlier in the day] who immediately got to respond to Gigaba's comments, which he said though had a few good points, over stated the on the ground presence to deal with the issues. He then continued to paint South Africa with a very negative brush, stating that 'all' South Africans speak the language of violence and highighted that SOuth Africa has the worst inequality 'in the world,' unemployment is 40%, higher than what it actually is (both that of the active and inactive labour force). They could really have found a better guest to discuss the issue, and I will leave it at that.

Overall, the segment which lasted 14 minutes, half of the programme, did not add very much that viewers did not already know and lacked the depth local broadcasters were able to provide.

The segment can be found below:

SABC News Takes Eben Jansen Off Air Indefinitely Following Controversial Interview

The SABC has pulled anchor Eben Jansen from the air following his controversial interview with EFF Spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi over the statue uprising currently taking place in South Africa.

The interview has gone viral since Thursday morning when it took place, being covered by many major news organisations and also led to 'Eben Jansen' becoming a Top Ten trending topic on Twittr for a great portion of Thursday.

The first minute or so of the interview goes smoothly, but things go downhill  quickly when Jansen asks Ndlozi about colonists that have historically gone to places and wiped away the history of the people native to whatever region was colonised and what made the current statue revolution different from those events. Ndlozi responded that the question was fundamentally wrong, which it was, and then Eben gets very defensive, interrupting his guest multiple times, raising his voice and depriving the viewers of hearing what could have been a very interesting opinion on the statue revolution.

Ndlozi is then rudely cut off.

On his removal from the air, SABC spokesperson, Kaizer Kganyago, said,“We were unhappy with what happened and have taken Eben off air. He will be off air until the matter has been dealt with between us and him.”

The really unlucky part of the whole situation, from a PR perspective for the SABC at least, is that out of all the news bulletins it airs across its array of channels including the 24 hour news channel, SABC News Channel, SABC 1, 2 and 3, Newsroom with Eben Jansen is the only programme that gets uploaded in its entirety onto Youtube, which likely caused the interview that took place in the morning, when most people are doing other things other than watching news, to go viral.An average episode of Newsroom with Eben Jansen typically gets about 300 views on Youtube but the edition featuring the interview has already been watched over 120 000 times (and has more down votes than up votes).

Details of SABC News' Schedule Tweaks and What Has Not Really Changed

From the start of April, the SABC News Channel (DStv 404) has tweaked their primetime schedule slightly. Here are the details:

The 5:30pm Question Time sees a bit of a format change, now originating from the main news set used for the english prime time news bulletin and, more importantly, airing live. This is for viewers to now phone in and ask questions on a show that has consistently been able to attract mainly big name political figures (though it is kind of annoying when the caller does not get straight to the question).

The 6:30pm Prime Time News has now been extended back to a 90 minute bulletin, now occupying the 7:30pm half hour as well (The 6pm Business Review with Francis Herd remains unchanged).

The Afrikaans news bulletin that aired at 7:30pm now falls away. However, the SABC is meeting viewers half way with this by changing the format of the long running Nuus Om 7 on SABC 2 to the double-anchored format that was used on the SABC News Channel and was apparently well received by viewers.

The rest of the evenings schedule remains largely unchanged with only the late night local language bulletins seeing a slight change in their schedule with the introduction of a repeat of the Afrikaans bulletin at midnight.

This is what is NOT happening:
If you have been reading Thinus Ferreira's TV With Thinus over the last few days, you would think the SABC has declared war on local language news because they have apparently cut the local language bulletins that aired on the SABC News Channel and replaced them with repeats of local language bulletins that aired on SABC 1 and SABC 2.

This is not the case as the local language bulletins that airs on the SABC News Channels have always been repeats and, with the exception of the Afrikaans bulletin, has never been live.

The guy is trying to spin a simple cutting of one Afrikaans bulletin into a total war on local languages, which is definitely not occuring.

Overall, very little changes with the exception of Question Time now airing live.

Debora Patta In Kenya

With the recent attacks in Kenya, news organsations have been scrambling to provide on the ground coverage from Kenya. CBS News' Debora Patta is in Kenya as well covering the tragedy and its aftermath.


Debora was, of course, eNews' editor in chief (and anchor in chief) until her unexpected exit from the organisation back in May 2013.

If you miss Debora on your tv as much as I do, here is two of her reports on the Kenyan tragedy for her [relatively] new home, America's CBS News, where she holds the title of foreign correspondent:

eNCA's Robyn Kriel Reports For CNN

eNCA's Robyn Kriel Reporting for CNN

Robyn Kriel, eNCA's cheif African correspondent, today reported multiple times for CNNi (DStv 401) on the tragedy that has been unfolding in Kenya today. The link between CNN and Kriel in Kenya was a standard broadband feed, meaning the connection was a bit problematic (sound and picture break ups), though one could fully understand her excellent reportage.

What makes CNN's continued use of Robyn throughout the day more impressive is that their own Soni Methu is in Nairobi as well, yet they opting to go with Robyn for more live shots.

eNCA is, of course, a CNN affiliate, which means that the two news channels occasionally use each other's resources like live camera shots or, in this case, a very talented journalist. The affiliation deal is similar to what CNN has with local news channels in many countries and American states which allows both CNN and the local news organisation to leverage the others resources in their coverage.

eNCA is also in the process of scaling back their Africa division as part of a company wide review.

eNCA's Chief Africa Correspondent, Robyn Kriel, talking to CNN's Michael Holmes and Amara Walker on CNN Today

(Though eNCA has been a CNN affiliate for very long, the only previous times I remember them actually using each other's resources was a very long time ago when Deborah Patta's 3rd Degree aired an Amanpour episode that featured Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and again a few years ago immediately after the passing of Nelson Mandela when CNN would ocassionally dip into eNCA's feed to provide their viewers with an on the ground perspective)

ANN7 Tweaks Late Night Schedule

ANN7, DStv 405, has since the start of this week tweaked their late night broadcast schedule.

The 9:30pm straight news bulletin with Gladys Sithole has been shelved, replaced with a rerun of the day's Buzz @ANN7 with Liezle Wilson, which is an entertainment show that premieres at 2:30pm (and actually deserves a much better timeslot considering that the show has consistently been able to secure A-list stars as guests).

With one news bulletin lost, another is gained, as the longrunning 10:30pm rerun of Total Football (Mondays and Fridays) and Gameon! (Tuesday-Thursday) has been replaced by a live news bulletin anchored by reality star Lauren Jenae.

The 11pm hour of news is no longer using the "Night Cap" brand, though it is essentially the same content.