COVERAGE NOTES: Mid-Term Budget Speech

Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, delivering the 2016 Mid-term budget Speech Address on ANN7

Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, delivering the 2016 Mid-term budget Speech Address on CNBC Africa

Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, delivering the 2016 Mid-term budget Speech Address on eNCA

Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, delivering the 2016 Mid-term budget Speech Address on The Parliamentary Service

Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, delivering the 2016 Mid-term budget Speech Address on The SABC News Channel

The Minister of Finance today revealed the Mid-Term Budget speech. Below are coverage notes from the domestic news channels. A special note: This will be eNCA's first budget speech broadcast in years without Andrew Barnes who usually anchored the broadcast.

12pm
Wall-to-wall coverage commences on both eNCA and SABC News Channel.

eNCA has Gareth Edwards filling in for Cathy Mohlahlana in Johannesburg with Jeremy Maggs holding things down at their makeshift parliamentary studio. He is joined by analysts Karima Brown and . Leigh-Anne Jansen, Athi Mtongana and Annika Larsen is following the protests

SABC News Channel has anchor Devan Murugan in Cape Town with Natasha Thorp in studio . The beginning of the 12pm hour featured Leanne Manas' interview with the Finance Minister from this morning's edition of Morning Live. Vannesa Poonah is covering the protests outside parliament for the channel.




ANN7 is not only having a regular bulletin, but they seem to be making a bigger story than the other channels about the protest surrounding Senzo Meyiwa's murder investigation. There is nothing wrong with providing in-depth coverage to the story, but they providing this in-depth coverage at the cost of two stories much more relevant to South Africans: The budget speech and student protests.

The business channels also have regular programming.

Natasha Thorp and Devan Murugan anchored the SABC News Channel's coverage of the 2016 Mid-term Budget Address

1pm
ANN7 has and BizPulse anchor and business editor, Clive Ramathibela-Smith, and economist, Francois Stofberg in studio  joining Abigail Visagie in studio telling. Clive noted that this may be the most important mid term budget speech ever, considering not only the student protests but looming ratings downgrades.Nasiphi Same is outside parliament.

eNCA and eTV are not simulcasting their 1pm bulletins. Jeremy Maggs continues to provide live coverage from parliament with Shahan Ramkissoon and Amy McIver in studio anchoring News Day currently airing only on eTV. Magggs and his panel are covering the budget wall-to-wall whilst News Day is covering the budget as only one of their stories. At 1:19pm, Jeremy Maggs was joined by Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga. Even though eTV will be airing the Budget Speech at 2pm, the stop broadcasting news at 1:30pm, instead opting to play cheap filler programming for thirty minutes.

Abigail Visagie anchored pre-budget speech coverage on ANN7

SABC News Channel's coverage also reduces its focus on the budget speech in the 1pm hour as this hour is simulcast on SABC3 and thus has to provide an all round news bulletin. At 1:29pm, both eNCA and SABC News channel broke the news that Minister Pravin Gordhan has exited parliament to address the student protestors, before  both cut to commercial break. Soon after, SABC news Channel had a camera basically at the Finance Minister, catching an exchange between him and a student.

At just after 1:30pm, CNBC Africa started their own live coverage of the event from their studio.

2pm
eNCA interrupted Kariema Brown midsentence to play the introduction to the coverage. Jeremy Maggs continued speaking in the background before he too was cut mid-sentence to go to commercial break, while their coverage continued unharmed on eTV.

SABC News' coverage shifted to being anchored entirely from a makeshift studio outside of Cape Town with Devan Murugan anchoring.

The Minister of Finance delivered the Mid-Term Budget Speech from 2:05pm

For the first time for as long as i can remember, the Midterm Budget Speech Address is not available on one free to air SABC Channel. Instead, SABC1 and SABC2 are showing reruns while SABC3 is playing a live program for school children hat should still be in school at this time. Free to air viewers are therefore forced to watch it on eTV and not on the public broadcaster. For some reason, the address is being streamed on the SABC's main Youtube channel and not the SABC News one, as if that will make a difference because if people can't afford low cost DStv, how on earth do you expect them to be a able to afford uncapped internet to watch the address?