Exclusive ITV-Oscar Pistorius interview to air on M-Net and M-Net City

M-Net has announced that the pay tv broadcaster has secured the rights to the highly anticipated and much hyped ITV interview/documentary, Oscar Pistorius: The Interview.

The interview will premiere on M-Net this Friday, 24 June 2016 at 22:55, whilst the credits will still be rolling from its first broadcast over in the UK on the ITV network. In addition, the broadcast will be simulcast on M-Net City, which is an M-Net channel available on both the DStv Compact and Extra bouquets, allowing more people to see the special broadcast.

Because M-Net has been hyping the court case as if it is a major soccer match, there will also be a live panel that will be providing what is essentially a build up and post match analysis. So far, we know that John Webb, who had been reporting from court, will be in studio. This special will be broadcast from an actual Supersport studio that is used to hype up sports matches.This part of the special will be produced by the Carte Blanche team.

Carte Blanche ran a popup channel covering the initial trial and has continued to cover the trial during their regular Sunday broadcast.

“The content of the documentary will undoubtedly make headline news across the globe and our viewers will be able to see it in full and in high quality on the M-Net Channels first. In addition to that the Carte Blanche team, who has been following the trial intensively from the start, will add to the conversation with their valuable insights and comments with the Carte Blanche special,” says Jan du Plessis, Director: M-Net Channels.

In addition, because the broadcast time is quite late and on an evening when television viewership is slightly lower, the special will be made available on the DStv Catch Up platform and also air on Supersport channels at various times. Expect to see the interview quite a few times as one of the questions under the FAQ of the release asks "Why are you airing the interview so many times?"

In the interview, acclaimed ITV investigative journalist, Mark Williams-Thomas, will meet up with Pistorius at his uncle's home where he had been  staying in order to provide his side of the story.

Why did Pistorius choose the UK's ITV for the interview instead of a domestic journalist? Apparently he prefers the 'format' presented by the foreign broadcaster. What exactly is the 'format' of a documentary/interview in any case? Is ITV paying him? Are they allowing a certain level of editorial control? Who knows, but it just doesn't make sense why go that far, as if a local broadcaster would not have tweaked a 'format' for him.

Pistorius is not the first major role player in the trial to prefer speaking to foreign media instead of local media. During the initial trial, Reeva Steenkamp's family opted to open up to NBC's Today Show (United States) instead of a local media source. The odd move led to American media commentators to speculate that NBC had paid the family for the interview (as it is odd, at least in the US, to prefer foreign media over local media), especially considering how close to the time of the incident the interview took place. The pressure from critics led NBC to actually issue a statement that no sum of money had [apparently] been paid for that interview.

[ANN7's Michael Appel has Tweeted that he will be appearing in the special]

Some more Oscar for us

eNCA has confirmed that they will cover the proceedings of Oscar Pistorius' sentencing this coming Monday.

As we would expect, Karyn Maughn and Annika Larsen will be live from the courthouse. Maughn is usually the person to follow on twitter for up to the  minute updates.

The channel has also confirmed that they will stream the proceedings live on their website.

ANN7's Michael Appel will be at the court as well, as he has always been since day one. That channel will cover proceedings live as well.

It is expected that SABC News Channel will carry the proceedings as well, though they have yet to confirm details.

Is South Africa Becoming Obsessed with Broadcast Trials?

On March 3rd, South Africa, and the rest of the world, tuned in to the trial of Oscar Pistorius, a trial that made history by becoming the first ever South African trial to be broadcast in its entirety on television. As time progressed, the trial got prolonged for various reasons. But, instead of all the hype for the trial fuzzing out, it seemed to just increase as South Africans became increasingly obsessed by the trial.

In the courtroom itself, 40 seats are reserved for local media, 40 for foreign media, an overflow room for others and many more crowding outside.

The proceedings of the trial are covered on so many channels, they are spoilt for choice. There is the three news channels, eNCA, SABC News and ANN7, all of which carry the proceedings live and also all of which have their own daily wrap shows. The international channels carry proceedings live as well including CNN, Sky News (which has a nightly highlights show on trial days) and BBC World News are just as obssessed with the trial. Openview HD, South Africa's first commercial free-to-air satellite platform started Trial TV: The State vs Oscar Pistorius, a special channel dedicated to the trial that was to run daily until 6pm. Problem was, demand for the trial was so high and, after a large amount of requests, the platform extended its broadcast hours to well into the evening to allow viewers who cannot see the trial during the day the opportunity to catch  up at night. 

However, the most successful channel, by far, must be The Oscar Pistorius Trial, a Carte Blanche Channel on Multichoice's DStv platform. Though the channel was expected to be a success, the degree of success it has achieved has far exceeded expectations, drawing more than 190 000 viewers during live court times during the middle of the day, easily ranking as the most watched channel among DStv's over 100 channels on the platform.

This all excludes the success seen by various websites that broadcast the trial live, many of which see traffic numbers peak when court is in session.

But now it seems as if South Africans are finally realising that this trial wont last forever and are already looking at what trials could consume their attention in the future.

The first such one is the trial of Shrien Dewani, due to start later this year. The team behind the Oscar Pistorius channel on DStv have already polled viewers to gauge interest on whether they would watch that trial as well, a staggeringly large amount said yes.

But, as it seems as if  South Africa might be in for a change in their tv diet to include some court tv, the first channel to get ahead of the curve is surprisingly the SABC's SABC News, which now runs a daily half hour recap show at 9pm on the trial of Radovan Krejcir, hosted by Dumile Mateza. What makes this move more smart is placing this show in exactly the same slot occupied by the Oscar Pistorius trial when it is on, daily at 9pm, developing a sort of culture in which at 9pm viewers are to make appointment viewing for the broadcast proceedings of a trial, no matter who the trial may be about, but they know that at that time, there will be trial tv to watch.

The next few months will be interesting to see exactly where the broadcasters go with broadcasting  trials when the Oscar Pistorius trial finally ends.

Oscar Pistorius: Media Review, Week 1:SABC News

SABC News

From the SABC's flagship broadcast on SABC News and SABC 3

All the news channels are broadcasting the exact same feed. All the channels are providing rolling coverage. So why watch SABC News then? Because they actually have the decency to update their iPlate to reflect the hours of their Oscar coverage. If they did not, I would not have known about the ten pm show they have on recapping the show. If only the other channels like eNCA and ANN7 could follow suite and have the decency to inform viewers (who do not use the internet to find broadcast info) of when they will be providing coverage blocks.

I must say the website they have up and running for the trial is quite good, better than what we would usually expect from them. You can navigate to it from the SABC News main website.

They have had reporters on the ground from Day one and, with their experience of on location reporting, seem to have a smoother product on air (when it comes to live shots at least). Their coverage has been surprisingly good and informative, as we did not expect the rolling coverage they are currently providing.

I also admire their courage to back off from the case and broadcast things that might not interest the layman viewer as much as the courtcase but is still relevant to the nation. I am talking about their coverage of the rolling blackouts we are currently experiencing which inclluded not taking the Oscar feed for in excess of an hour on Friday. This is what I feel a public brooadcaster should be: show things that might not attract viewers but are still in the public interest (and more important).

Oscar Pistorius: Media Review, Week 1:eNCA

eNCA

eNCA really went all out with the trial. They have created a sub-website dedicated to the trial on their website and streams all court proceedings live from Pretoria for public viewing. One of their journalists mentioned on twitter that traffic to their website has more than tripled out of interest in the case. 

TV is no different. They have really gone with 'gavel-to-gavel' coverage of the trial even though there are other national stories that I feel deserve more attention like the power crisis that we are in (but for once the media aren't presenting it as a 'crisis' as they do not want our attention to be removed from the Oscar coverage, which will provide them with more eyeballs watching tv for a longer period of time, a prime example of how the media curate the news we see). Their 'main' shows, with the exception of the Cape Town-based News Day has gone with the format of a one anchor in studio one anchor outside court approach. Their 7pm hour, which is being called "Oscar Hour," is quite good and comprehensive (along with short weather bulletins at the top and bottom of the hour). The same hour is then rebroadcast at ten pm, barely 3 hours old, and at a time when they could show other news while a sizable audience is still watching. 

Their midmorning show with JoAnne Josephs and Gareth Edwards, is probably the best of their shows as they get to broadcast during court proceedings and get to provide analysis during breaks in court. They also broadcast this show off the set used for NewsNight as well. These two could be put in the prime time show and their quality will show why they would be worth those hours.

As expected, Karyn Maughan is the star of their coverage. During court proceedings, her Twitter feed gets to share time on the ticker. I am, however, surprised as to see how little tv time she gets as other journos like Cathy Mohlalhana seem to be getting more tv time.

One thing that I would see as a step up for eNCA is their decency to finally drop repetitive sports bulletins in favour of more sports coverage. If it was up to me, they would remove nearly all sport coverage. Think about it: All people that have access to eNCA have DStv and all DStv packages have the superb SuperSportBlitz channel for rolling sports coverage whenever they want. if viewers want sport news, they know where to find that channel and if they want news, they should go to eNCA.

Oscar Pistorius: Media Review, Week 1:CNNI CNN HLN

CNN

CNN South African Correspondent Robin Curnow. With Nelson Mandela's passing and now this trial, she is really getting to prove what she is worth.

CNN has been covering the event along with other 'big' news in the rest of the world. Between covering the Oscars, Oscar and the happenings in the Ukraine, CNN is spoilt for choice on what they get to cover. The trial has generally taken a back seat to the Ukraine coverage, but with the many added temporary bulletins that has been added to CNNI since the Ukraine events this trial is still getting sufficient coverage on the channel with Robin Curnow on the ground along with another CNN correspondent that was brought in to cover the trial, though he is seen more than Robin. One has to wonder where the likes of Errol Barnnett, one of CNN's other correspondents based in Africa are and do they too not deserve the chance to 'shine?' 

Chris Cuomo from CNNUS's morning show, New Day

Their US feed has also been covering the case quite extensively. Knowing that the US judicial system is different to the South African one, anchor Chris Cuomo is seen explaining the South African system to the US audience. This case is really allowing the world to know if South Africa's constitution is as good in practice as it is in writing.

Between covering the Ukraine coverage, Amanpour still had time for this court case

 CNN's sister channel HLN, the channel for social media (and court cases) has been covering the case extensively, as expected. Here South African socialite, Jen Su, is seen providing analysis on HLN primetime show Jane Velez-Mitchell. Thinus seems disgusted that this woman was chosen as she cannot be seen as 'credible.' I disagree with this stance because if you look at what other channels are providing (lawyers and the likes) it is refreshing to be informed by a non lawyer type on a channel that is not a 'news' channel but a 'social' channel all about trends and what people are talking about

Oscar Pistorius: Media Review, Week 1 (Introduction)

Multiple tv channels created just for it. Specialists in the field being brought in at top dollar just to cover it. New state of the art broadcast studios, graphics and cameras. Rolling coverage on tv and online. Special reports.The world's eyes on South Africa.

Reeva Steenkamp during the 2010 Soccer World Cup

If you were in a coma for slightly more than a year, you would be thinking I am talking about the 2010 Soccer World Cup. But I am not. The tv channels are dedicated to a court case, not a sport. The specialists are lawyers and not retired sports legends. The state  of the art studio is not for Supersport. The media is not here for sport. They here for a court case. The court case of Oscar Pistorius, once a hero to countless people and the mood is not exactly festive either.

(C) SAPA

Here is a summary and review of the first weeks court proceedings, as covered in the media.

I always wondered why exactly the media was so excited about covering the trial. And then I realised the real answer: They were excited about covering each other. Monday night I struggled to find courtroom coverage on tv, yet the Oscar trial was on ALL news channels. What was on? Media, covering media. The Carte Blanche channel dedicated to covering the trial was in the midst of a 1 hour program covering how the media was  covering the event. Switch to eNCA: An insert by the head of news (Ben Said) on the media. The insert spoke of the journalists, the cameras, the helicopters, even the drone camera (which was from Carte Blanche, the first time a drone has been used in South African coverage) but no coverage. I switch to the dedicated 10pm slot on SABC News and what do I find? Lo and behold, coverage on the news (I was impressed, however, that they acknowledged that 'three' local news channels covered it. Usually they tend to not even acknowledge the existence of competition).

However, soon things regulated and focus shifted back to the trial.