REVIEW: All News Channels Carry Jacob Zuma's Second Inauguration

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

eNCA Inaugaration Plans

As Jacob Zuma prepares to be inaugurated as president for his second term, eNCA is preparing to bring viewers unrivalled coverage of the event.

Their coverage starts with live crossings from the start of the broadcast day, at 6am with coverage continuing in full earnest until 1pm, along with updates thereafter.

Anchors Gareth Edwards and Cathy Mohlahlana and Gareth Edwards will be stationed at the south lawns to give viewers a feel of exactly what approximately 20 000 ordinary South Africans would be experiencing. Senior Anchor Iman Rappetti will be stationed at the recently renamed Nelson Mandela Amphitheater, where all the action takes place.

As has become the tradition recently, the event will be live streamed in its entirety at enca.com

eNCA's Robyn Kriel Once Again the Reporter to watch (and follow) for news on the latest of the two explosions that rocked Kenya

eNCA's East Africa Bureau Chief Robyn Kriel providing a live update on the latest on the bombings in Kenya on NewsNight

eNCA's East Africa bureau chief, Robyn Kriel, is once again providing exceptional, on the ground coverage of the two bommings that rocked Kenya earlier today, with live updates right through the day, likely continuing well into the weekend.

eNCA is the only local news channel that has a reporter reporting live on the ground, with ANN7 and SABC News both covering the story, but using either stock footage or footage acquired from a news service.

Robyn is also providing exceptional rolling coverage on social media, as she always does. He Twitter handle is @robynkriel.

Election Coverage Review: eNCA

Courtesy of Patrick Conroy's Twitter

Of all three news channels we have, eNCA undoubtedly had the least sensational coverage (not necessarily bad).

Uveka Rangappa, who anchored from 6am to 12pm on election day got to cover all the bigger politicians in the country  voting. Here, she is covering President Zuma voting from his hometown in Nkandla.

Whilst the other channels broadcast primarily from the IEC Election Centre (and in ANN7's case, a decent amount from the studion), eNCA decided to stick with their broadcast originating from their Hyde Park studios, away from the hustle and bustle that goes along with being able to broadcast from the IEC Centre. This was in contrast to the atmosphere created on the other channels.

Gareth Edwards at the big screen from which he did most of his presentations for an extended period of Election day. The screen was controlled by him using the two iPads seen on the desk in front of him.

They also went with the format of their previous election coverage of having the main studio anchor anchoring a WHOPPING SIX HOURS of coverage on end. This started off with Uveka Rangappa from 6am to 12pm, Siki Mgabadeli(see paragraph below) taking over from her until 6pm, Joanne Joseph taking us to midnight while the team of eNCA Africa Edition co-anchored the overnight hours on Wednesday evening until 6am when Uveka was back (Do not judge me for not knowing their names. Not even Joanne Jospehs knew their names as she just said at the top of the hour "the next team" takes over whereas prior to this every anchor would actually give the name of who would follow them). Gareth Edwards was at the touch screen for most of the day from about 6am until nearly six pm, spending most of his birthday providing live analysis on the numbers around the election

Siki Mgabadeli anchored the channel's afternoon coverage.

I am very disappointed that the channel had Siki Mgabadeli anchor six hours of the coverage, considering that she is not even an anchor at the channel. Elections are a time to showcase your best anchors and reporters so that the casual viewers who tune in for a big event like elections could potentially be enticed into tuning in again after the news fades. Instead of doing this, the channel decided to showcase the presenter of a seasonal one hour per week show, The Big Debate (which we can now almost certainly guarantee will be back for a new season ) for a full six hours. I also do not see how her presenting that show justifies her getting the slot ahead of the likes of young talent like Gareth Edwards, who had to play second fiddle to her, as she is primarily a business anchor, having had experiences at channels like CNBC Africa and Summit TV. Her first half an hour was not the best news reading, to say the least, the next half hour Gareth played a bigger role and from there she took over the driving seat becoming better in the space of the long six hour afternoon shift she carried, admittedly.

News Night anchors Iman Rappetti and Jeremy Maggs presented coverage from the IEC Results Centre. Courtesy: Iman Rappetti's Twitter

I must say I admired the channels "All hands on deck" approach when it came to having reporters literally stationed around the country. Late night, weekend and fill in anchor Fenly Foxen was used as a reporter, along with eNews Late Edition and weekend edition hosts Robyn Smith and Amy McIver were used as reporters as well, Robyn from the Northern Cape and Amy as an exceptional interviewer at the IEC Centre (she should really take on the role more often). All senior anchors (Jeremy Maggs, Dan Moyane and Iman Rappetti) anchored short panel sessions from the IEC Centre. eNCA was the only channel that used their "studio" at the IEC  Centre as "soft segments" (segments done from a couch).

The channel had reporters at all of the IEC's provincial centres

The channel carried a special edition of Late Night News with the brilliant Loyiso Gola at 9:30pm, which I am not sure was a smart move as this was just thirty minutes after polls officially closed and thus there must have been a large amount of live crossings that could have been done in that slot.

JoAnne Jospeh along with analysts Angelo Fick and Justice Malala carried the channels Election Day coverage from 6pm to midnight

Their graphics for the election results which started appearing at 9pm were just the right size, not too small or too big and distracting (like ANN's). As results started to trickle in Joanne Joseph kept consulting with her brilliant panel of Angelo Fick (who is now a permanent member of the eNCA team) and Justice Malala, who all were great initially, started fading as time ticked by. What do you expect if you going to be speaking to the same two people for six hours?

Post midnight, the first major interview the channel got was with with DA leader Hellen Zille who spoke to now midmorning anchor CathyMohlahlana from the IEC Election Centre.

Overall, this was amazing coverage, but could have presented more excitingly.

Night-before-Election Coverage

As South Africa gears up for the 2014 National Election, the three main news channels are all running special programming building up to tomorrows elections.

eNCA's special st constructed in their main studio in their Hyde Park facilities

On eNCA, former mid morning duo of Joanne Joseph and Gareth Edwards (who has amazing chemistry together) anchored a special broadcast in the slot of what should be News Night, but, as hinted in the press release posted earlier, will just be known as an Elections broadcast (though the anchors did slip the name News Night every now and then. Other times you could see them watching their words to mention the name of the program. Generally I am against senior anchors not anchoring their own slots around days when their is major news to cover (in this case, Jeremy Maggs and Iman Rappetti), I must say that the duo of Gareth Edwards and Joanne Jospehs will still really go a long way. The program was mainly anchored by Joanne, though, who interviewed the excellentAngelo Fick intermittently throughout the broadcast. Iman Rappetti hosted veteran journalists Dan Moyane (of eNCA), Pippa Green and Nkosi Milton at the IEC Centre


SABC News broadcast a special edition of On The Trail at 9pm, anchored by Contributing Editor Vuyo Mvoku (who has contributed greatly to their coverage) which included representatives from smaller parties like Azapo .

On ANN7 Peter Van Onselen, the Vuka Africa host was anchoring from the studio while Chantal Rutter-Dros hosted a panel from the IEC Operations Center from 7pm to 9pm in what was a really feel good show I must say, though it was also mainly anchored by the female anchor as Peter was only brought in occasionally.

Freedom Day Coverage

It seems as if the local news channels takes a broadcast on am important holiday like Freedom Day very seriously. All the major news channels had anchors usually seen during busy perdiods during the week on air on Sunday.

On eNCA, News Night anchor Iman Rappetti went on air at some point between 8am and 9am, interviewing guests from all kinds of fields to talk about the day including poets, politicians and analysts, even saying that she is a "very lucky girl" to have gotten the opportunity.

Over on SABC News (and SABC 2) Morning Live's week news reader, Ayanda-Allie Paine, was anchoring the show, her big get being ANC chairperson Baleka Mbete.

ANN7 had their week breakfast show anchor, Peter van Onselen, anchoring the weekend edition of the show, also interviewing various analysts.

eNCA Experiment with 4pm "General News" Slot

eNCA seems to be doing some experimenting with its 4pm-6pm generic news bulletin anchored by Gareth Edwards.

What was initially through the years just a standard news anchor in seat reading the news bulletin is becoming increasingly a more interesting and exciting bulletin to watch now that Gareth Edwards anchors it. Gareth follows in the steps of the likes of current News Night anchor Iman Rappetti,current Morning News Todday and SA news legend Dan Moyane, Mid Morning presenter (and a former prime time anchor at SABC3) JoAnne Joseph and former prime time anchor Nikiwe Bikitsha in carrying the slot. By just looking at those names, one can see that the 4pm slot has historically been anchored by either people that have had great things happen in their career before taking the slot, or were promoted to greater things following their stint in the slot. It seems as if Gareth is destined for the latter.

(c) eNCA

But back on topic. Unlike the anchors before him, Gareth no longer just sits in the corner set reading the news, he actually walks across the whole studio, starting at the main desk, where he reads the headlines and previews what is to come, before moving to the larger screen behind him, all shown with more-dramatic-than-usual camera work.

(c) eNCA

Consistently throughout the two-hour bulletin he referred to the show as Afternoon News (On Twitter, #AfternoonNews), which is interesting because, other than the channels three 'main' news bulletins (Morning News Today, News Day and News Night), no other slot on the channel is referred to by a name, only labelled 'General News' on the DStv i-Plate and as eNCA by the anchors. Could the bulletin's name officially be renamed Afternoon News? We will wait and see.

One thing that has always stood out about the 4pm slot was its ability to attract guests to discuss stories, often guests of a high caliber. With all the changes taking place, this is the one part of the show that has stayed true to its legacy. Friday they had both Nickolaus Bauer ( who discussed the harrassment he went through at the hands of SAPS police officers at a rally. This story eventually crept its way to the top of the headlines later during prime time) and Toby Shapshack( who discussed a new patent of Apple's. Interestingly enough, he has a tech show on another channel, CNBC Africa, but appeared on a competitor instead).

The bulletin also had a business report in its last half hour presented by prime time business anchor Arabile Gumede, who has received a considerable amount of criticism since joining the channel.

Nikiwe Bikitsha has left eNCA

eNCA Senior Anchor, Nikiwe Bikitsha, has signed off for the final time this past Friday, February 28th. She broke the news herself earlier in the week. There had been no rumblings of her leaving and in  the past few months she even gor promoted to anchor eNews Prime Time in addition to her anchoring duties on eNCA.

Nikiwe Bikitsha joined what was then known as the e News Channel on the 11th of May 2009 as the female co anchor on their flagship broadcast, News Night, replacing outgoing anchor, Redi Direko, who stepped down citing burnout. She joined eNCA from CNBC Africa and before then, was a breakfast host on SAFM. She was also a commentator for the Mail and Guardian, though she returned a few moths ago. 

In 2012 she took a leave of absence from the eNews Channel to take up the prestigious Hubert Humphrey Fellowship. This left co anchor Jeremy Maggs anchoring the show solo for well over a week, before the channel decided to move then breakfast show anchor Iman Rappetti into the slot temporarily (prompting Ayanda-Allie Paine to fill in her slot). However, the duo received such warm reviews for their on screen chemistry, that they remained the News Night pair since. 

Upon returning well educated from her scholarship, Nikiwe Bikitsha found herself working for a channel that has relaunched and changed its name from e News Channel to eNCA since she left, with a new anchor in what used to be her slot, and the addition of exciting new anchor Eleni Giokos meant that every slot from 6am to 9pm was choc-a-bloc with two anchors, leaving no place for Nikiwe. During her first few months back, the newly returned "Senior Anchor," as she was tagged on screen found herself without a slot, instead doing 'special reports.' However, soon the likes of Ayanda Allie-Paine, Eleni Giokos and Mac Moleli all left the channel, and she was given the 4pm slot in what was yet another channel lineup shuffle.

Nikiwe just never seemed happy in this slot to me, always coming across as dry and uninterested in the new slot, a far cry of the super enthusiastic and full of energy anchor she had been just a year or so prior before leaving for the scholarship. I often thought it might just be the format of a solo anchored late afternoon slot that was just dull, but whenever JoAnne Josephs filled in for, JoAnne seemed to make the slot feel so exciting. 

Nikiwe was also recently promoted to anchor eNews Prime Time after anchor Sally Burdett received a promotion in the group to head of anchors (which I must say seems to come across as a very messy job these days). She seemed dry anchoring the most watched Englsih news Bulletin in the country as well. 

Nikiwe most recently co anchored special coverage of the events surrounding Nelson Mandela's death. However, now that I look back, it is really interesting that she was not used more effectively during the SONA coverage (actually, not used at all outside of a normal role) which could actually be read as a sign of her leaving.

Nikiwe was studying when she joined the channel, studied while there and says she will study now that she is leaving (along with working in business and doing freelance work). Nothing like someone always bettering themselves. Here's to Nikiwe, once upon a time one of the fastest rising stars in local news.