SONA2016: Coverage Notes

eNCA
- Cathy Mohlahlana did her usual slot with a few live crossings to parliament. Following her, Amy McIver filled in on News Day with regular anchor Michelle Craig at parliament.

-Iman took over from Amy McIver at 4pm, with coverage switching to parliament alone.

-Live visuals of protests whilst providing in studio analysis by Judith February with Iman Rappetti

- The etv simulcast started at 6:57, because viewers needed to watch Rhythm City and Scandal first

- When the EFF were thrown out, eNCA's audio feed was suspiciously cut, then the video feed. They then were forced to use the feed proivded by the Parliamentary Service until 8:14pm when things normalised.

- As soon as the president was done speaking, Iman Rappetti said goodbye to etv viewers, because some Valentines themed movie must be more important than SONA analysis. eNCA also went to a commercial break immediately, something the other news channels did not do.

- Post SONA, eNCA's first interview (by Thulasizwe Simelane) was with ANC secretary generay, Gwede Mantashe

After the State of the Nation Address, the channel swapped their analysts, with Mcebisi Ndletyana and Angelo Fick providing analysis from the Parliamentary precinct.

- Mmusi Maimane spoke to eNCA's Thulasizwe Simelane only after speaking to SABC News and ANN7 already.

Later, Lester Kiewit speaks to Trade and Industry Minister, Rob Davies.

-eNCA is the second channel to sign off at 10pm.

- Florence Letoaba, who is now simply just Flo Letoaba for some reason, took over just after ten pm from the Johannesburg studio.

SABC News
-Newsroom anchor, Ebem Jansen and primetime business anchor, Francis Herd started anchoring from Auckland Park at 3pm, with Vuyo Mvoko and Leanne Manas doing live crossings at parliament with the latter pair anchoring more coverage as time passed.

- Near complete ignorance of protests, once again opting to cover the state of the nation from the parade on a blow by blow basis, providing in depth analysis on the parade instead of the protests.

- The faint sound of protesting is not even mentioned. When the protesting EFF MP's were shown on screen, Leanne Manas said, "We letting the pictures speak for themselves," as if she was prohibited from mentioning what was happening.

- The 6:30pm English bulletin on SABC3 went ahead, being broadcast from the studio usually used for SABC2's news programming.

- The insert on the English news bulletin that covered the SONA address seemed to emphasise the strength of the security, not even mentioning why security has been beefed up

While ANN7 and eNCA have experts on discussing what they want to hear in the address, SABC News is covering the cheers and excitment and the celebration of the evening.

- Post SONA, SABC News had the first interview with DA leader, Mmusi Maimane

SABC News' post SONA coverage is really on the ground with reporters doing interviews and then just throwing to each other for the next interview without an anchor between them or analysis.

Afterall, you have a long time to do anaylisis but only a few minutes to get 'exclusinve' responses.

- SABC News' Vuyo Mvoko got the first interview with Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, post SONA. They really covered a lot of topics comprehensively.

- Coverage on SABC2 ends at 9:30pm, for today's edition of 7de Laan.

- After the Finance Minister, Gwede Mantashe joins Mvoko in his lounge for a nice softball filled long interview.

- SABC News has the first interview with the Public Protector, who stated she would have liked more to have been said about governance.

SABC News channel signs off at 9:57pm with Your World picking up just after ten pm from Auckland Park.

ANN7
-Vuka Africa anchor, Abigail Visagie anchored for four hours, followed by Karabo Yibe for four hours, then Chante Jantjies took over into prime time until after 10pm. Wow these people, along with their reporters, worked long hours, especially Chante. While other news channels had a morning team and an evening team at parliament, these guys did the whole day.

-Live anchoring from parliament was covered by Peter van Onselen and Clement Manyathela, who also did red carpet duty.

- Kalden Ongmu has  been doing excellent coverage on the protests, speaking to protestors on the ground and providing updates as they happen.

- Post SONA ANN7's first interview was with Dr Groenewald from the Freedom Front Plus

- After speaking to SABC News, Mmusi Maimane spoke to ANN7.

- ANN7 had more accredited staff for SONA than eNCA, but for some reason their broadcast is once again being done from their studio in Midrand, whilst their prime time anchor, Peter van Onselen, are doing interviews at parliament.

- Their transitioning from one reporter to another needs improving. Too much silent air.

- After speaking to SABC News, the public protector speaks to ANN7, again highlighting issues surrounding governance.

CNBC Africa
- The channel will cover the state of the nation address once Janet Yellin is done delivering her monetary policy report

- Was the only broadcaster to not carry the live national anthem

- Post SONA, CNBC Africa focused, once more, on financial analysis of the debate from the Joburg studio.

- Ralph Mothekga, who just doesn't seem able to stay off tv, is part of the panel.

BDTV
Business Day TV is once again not covering the event at all.

Special Mention: Islam TV Networks (DStv 347) provided wall to wall coverage on the event. I unfortunately realised this too late. They are, however, hosting a presidential debate later this year which will be covered here. So far, Mmusi Maimane has been confirmed to attend that event