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
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| 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
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| Peter Ndoro anchored coverage from the studio |
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| Graphics used for this event was just one of the other graphic packages used in recent months |
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| 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.
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| Amazing pic from Iman's Twitter |
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| eNCA carried the concert in between reports and ad breaks (which were plenty) |
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| Jeremy Maggs with his often quirky in studio panel |
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| 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
