ANN7 runs a disclaimer onscreen whilst covering the Constitutional Court hearings today

"ANN7 wants to inform its viewers that due to the threats to the safety of its journalists the network will not directly cover to ConCourt proceedings and the EFF march today. ANN7 brings you the coverage of the ConCourt case through a third party video feed and expert opinion on our network."

Those were the words that scrolled across the screen today on ANN7 whenever the news channel broadcast coverage on the constitutional court hearings today.

It follows threats by EFF leader Julius Malema whereby he stated that he cannot guarentee the safety of ANN7 and The New Age staff that attend EFF gatherings.

What exactly the disclaimer means is up to interpretation though.

Whenever the channel showed visuals from inside the constitutional court, it showed a 'Courtesy: SABC' credit in the top corner. If this whole thing with the EFF had not happened, they would still carry the feed provided by the SABC, as other news channels do too, as it is just cost effective to do so and it would not make sense to have many cameras in a venue when one can do the job for everyone. That is why organisations like the SABC provide things like 'pool feeds.' The only difference is they would not have ran that strap on the screen nor would they have stated 'Courtesy: SABC.'

If ANN7 was editorially biased, I don't think they could have doctored the live visuals to cover certain individuals more favourably, so I don't know what they were covering their bases from.

Furthermore, the strap implies that the on air analysis would be proived by third party 'experts.'  However, as seen in the picture above, the only 'expert' providing analysis when this strap was running was Michael Appel. Though I think Michael is an exceptional reporter and analyst (he really is), he is still paid by ANN7 and thus is not 'third party' enough to calm the recent allegations made by the EFF.

The strap was just a waste. It was as over dramatic as ANN7's coverage of the whole situation. Though the story between ANN7 and the EFF warrants airtime, it is being unfairly fav
oured for on air coverage ahead of other news worthy stories simply because the people reporting the story are part of the story. That is one thing every journalist should avoid as far as possible. not embrace.

ANN7 owners file, and is granted, urgent court interdict against the EFF

At 2pm today the North Gauteng high Court heard an urgent interdict agains EFF leader, Julius Malema [in case you did not know], by the CEO of Oakbay Investments, Nazeem Howa. [Oakbay is one of the main shareholders of ANN7 and the New Age].

The interdict follows Malema's comments last week whereby he made statements which incited violence against the journalists of ANN7 and the New Age, calling them the public relations department of the controversial Gupta family, ANN7 and The New Age's main shareholders. He further went on to ban them from attending EFF events in the name of ANN7 and The New Age.

The interdict is to  restrain EFF members from committing acts of violence against the company’s shareholders, staff and property. "Malema lashed out at the Gupta brothers and their commercial interests with a clear and unambiguous threat of violence and xenophobia," Oakbay Investments CEO Nazeem Howa said

The interdict was granted by Judge Johan Louw, 'with amendments.' What those amendments are will be clarified at a later date.

 "Our employees have the right to go to work and do their jobs without the threat of violence. We welcome today’s ruling and hope that the EFF will cease its threats and intimidation of our staff immediately,” said ANN7 editor-in-chief, Moegsien Williams,

SONA2016: Media Accreditation List Highlights

With the State of the Nation Address coming up this week on the 11th, news fans like myself are often excited to see how the broadcast news channels will be covering the event. The media accreditation list, which was released this past week, is often a good indication of whaat the channels have planned.

ANN7
Last year ANN7 decided to go against the trend and anchor their entire broadcast from their studio in Midrand. Though they had about two reporters on the ground, and good analysis in studio I will admit, it just seemed very disjointed.
Well this year, the channel will be broadcasting completely from Cape Town with new ANN7 Prime anchor, Peter van Onselen anchoring from within the parliamentary precinct.
ANN7 must be planning fireworks because their 61 personnel accredited for the SONA eclipses even eNCA's 32.

Express Luch anchor, Chante Jantjies will also be making her SONA debut this year. So too will late afternoon anchor, Karabo Yibe.

Like last year, Cape Town based reporter, Ken Brandt, will be in the precinct as well, as will Clement Manyathela.
Their reporters that will also be at the precinct include Michael Appel, Sinazo Cele, Nobuhle Nkhoma and senior reporter Kalden Ongmu.

Assignments editor, Cecilia Russel, will also be on hand. Remember last year Russel did something which I have never saw before, a breaking news story being anchored by telephone. She has also not shied away from giving what is really insightful commentary on air.

News channels often have various analysts from different fields present at their SONA coverage. ANN7's list includes Pumeza Bam, Dennis Cruywagen (Political commentator that has appeared on SABC News and Kyknet's news programming before) and Professor Sipho Seepe.

Surprisingly, ANN7 wont have any entertainment reporters covering the often controversial red carpet.

eNCA
As previously stated, eNCA will have roughly half the amount of accredited personel in the parliamentary precinct compared to ANN7, though quantity does not always equal quality ad I am sure we can expect something high quality from eNCA.

It seems like the channel will be broadcasting from the parliamentary precinct for hours: all anchors from 1pm are accredited to be there (Andrew Barnes and Michelle Craig from News Day, Joanne Joseph and Iman Rappetti. Jeremy Maggs will probably be, once again, based in the Joburg studio with whatever fad the channel is planning for this year)

Being based in Cape Town means you will probably be working on SONA night. Cape Town based reporters that will be at the precinct include Percivale Young, Leigh Anne Jansen,Lester Kiewit and Annika Larsen. Reporters being brought in include Thulasizwe Simelane, Dianne Hawker, Athi Nthongana and Bonga Dlulane.

Analysis and commentary will be provided by the likes of Judith February and Angelo Fick.

Notable exceptions include the exciting Yusuf Omar and Siki Mgabadeli. I am also going to miss Chester Missing, who always attracted a crowd on the precinct whenever he would interview someone.

SABC News
SABC News, being the public broadcaster at a state event, has the biggest team planned to converge on the precinct, as one would expect. 219 individuals are registered to represent the broadcaster at the event, excluding anyone who might have registered in the name of their SABC radio station.
Morning Live's Leanne Manas will be broadcasting live from parliament.

It seems like once again, Contributing Editor, Vuyo Mvoko, will be anchoring the prime time broadcast. Though many names are listed, its the ones that are not there that stand out. These include Ayanda-Allie Paine, who coanchored the broadcast last year, along with the entire prime time news team (Vabakshnee Chetty, Peter Ndoro and Francis Herd, the business anchor). Ndoro traditionally anchors/moderates the The News Age Business Briefing the next morning.

The actual head of news, Jimi Matthews, will be there too.

CNBC Africa
CNBC Africa, who usually covers the address live with analysis from their Joburg studio, will have Benedict Pather, Wandile Tonqa and Andile Tukwayo on  the ground.


Religious Broadcasters
Yes, you read it right, religious broadcasters are continuing to increase the size of their news divisions with many of them represented at the State of the Union Address, even though they do not carry the address live.
Faith Broadcasting Network (DStv341) will have five reporters covering the event from parliament.
LoveWorldSAT (Free To Air satellite), who I must admit can put on a high quality news bulletin, will have two reporters present with Islamic TV having four present.
In other words, religious television channels will have more represetitives present at the SONA Address than  both the Business news channels.
[These exclude the religious radio stations that will be there.]

International News Channels
International networks will be represented as well. Al Jazeera will have six individuals present, the same amount as ANN7's whole team last year. The BBC will have ten more than that.
Bloomberg, which shuttered Bloomberg Africa last year, will have two reporters on hand. So too will the news organisation that covers African news better than African news organisations do, CCTV Africa.
--------------------------------------
Kyknet Verslag will also be represented

Management shuffle at etv/eNCA, Anton Harber joins

eTV made various changes to some management positions today.

Anton Harber joins the group in the position of editor-in-chief. Prior to joining eNCA, Harber served as a journalism and media studies professor at Wits University.

On his appointment, Mark Rosin (Group COO) said: "Anton Harber will be joining the eFamily as editor-in-chief of eNCA.  Anton’s extensive experience in South African media will allow him to continue to build an independent, top class, integrity driven news service, while also mentoring and growing the future leaders of our news business. He is a seasoned journalist, experienced manager and highly respected academic and professional. We are thrilled to have him join our group."

Harber is filling the void left by Ben Said whose contract as editor-in-chief expired on Christmas day last year as he decided to pursue new opportunities at Turkey's state broadcaster. Prior to Said, Debora Patta held that position.

The current managing director of eNCA, Patrick Conroy will vacate that position as he will be taking on the position of Managing Director at the group's satellite platform, OpenView HD.

"Patrick is strong operationally and has sound marketing insights into new media. Since 2005, Patrick has built and led a world-class news company and management team. We believe he has the skills to capitalise on OpenView’s success to date and also to build the platform’s revenue generating opportunities. He will also look to explore a new content marketing opportunity which we believe is important to a rapidly evolving media environment," said Rosin in the statement that was released.

On his move from eNCA to OVHD, Conroy tweeted, "Will be taking up the post of MD of OpenViewHD March 1. Thank you eNCA for an epic 10 year adventure. Grateful for all we have achieved."

[Overall, the Twitter universe and myself are optimised at the prospects of Conroy at OpenView HD. It really seems like he will get things done there]


Finally, the current head of OpenView HD, Maxwell Nonge, moves to the newly created position of group chief technology officer. Nonge has seen through a turbulent start at OVHD when the platform was not taking off as expected, but has grown to a base of over 360 000 active subscribers (10 000 more than the 'official' number revealed a few days ago).

[Question: where did the name 'eMedia Investments' all of a sudden come from?]

Julius Malema advises ANN7 and The New Age to stay away from the EFF's press briefings

ANN7 and its sister newspaper, The New Age, made the headlines today when EFF leader, Julius Malema, stated at a press briefing today that journalists from the two Infinity Media entities are no longer welcomed at EFF events.

Infinity Media, the holding company of ANN7 (DStv 405, ann7.com/livetv) and The New Age, is owned by the controversial Gupta family, who have resurfaced in the media these past few weeks as a result of their close relations with senior ANC officials. Malema, along with members of the EFF, are accusing the two media entities (which share the same editor, Moegsien Williams) of not conducting proper reporting, but are instead acting as a mouthpiece for the Gupta family in the same way as 'Naspers did for the Apartheid government.' Furthermore, he stated that individuals working for these orgamisations would 'not be safe' at EFF events.

[You can see Malema's full media briefing by clicking here. (eNCA)]

The move was met, expectedly, by uproar from members of the press, with the South African National Editors Forum (SANEF) commenting on the story throughout the day to media houses, including having a representitive present at both ANN7 and SABC News Channel's debates around the issue. SANEF stated that it was unacceptable for any political party to intimidate journalists.



The ruling party's spokesperson, Zizi Kodwa, also condemned the comments made by Malema, going further to state that these comments incite violence and goes against the same constitution that allows Malema to be in parliament.


ANN7 and  the New Age's editor-in-chief, Moegsien Williams, appeared on ANN7 throughout the day to comment on the matter. Speaking to Karabo Yibe on ANN7's Good Evening SA, Moegsien stated, "[The statements] reminds me a lot of Donald Trump in the United States who wants to ban Muslims and throw reporters out of press conferences.He is our very own Donald Trump and I worry about that kind of language when we have an election coming up."

ANN7
Ironically, ANN7 was the only tv channel broadcasting the comments made by Malema on live tv. eNCA only streamed the event in its entirety. However, once the comments were made, ANN7's assistant editor on duty decided to cut the feed to the event from the broadcast, whilst the journalists from ANN7 that attended the event remained behind.

ANN7 covered the story throughout the day. As aforementioned, editor Moegsien Williams appeared multiple times on air throughout the day to discuss the issue. The channel's ANN7 Prime debate of the day centered on the issue.

On the panel was Williams, who was joined by William Bird (Director, Media Monitoring Africa) and Moshoeshoe Monare (council member, SANEF).

Monare stated that it was unacceptable for a political party to victimise journalists based on who owns the media house they work for. He further echoed the sentiment of SANEF that Malema's remarks threaten freedom of expression.

Bird stated that if the party had issues with the media house, they should have raised the issue with management, not deal with it in the manner that they did.

Oddly, at the end of the debate, when it was time to reveal viewers' reply to the Question of the Day, "Can we allow Malema to incite hate against media organization?" more than two thirds of viewers who participated the poll voted 'yes,' which must have been very awkward for anchor Peter van Onselen to make sense of.


SABC News Channel
SABC News had an in depth discussion on the matter on their recently launched, really well done, new program, On The Record with Vuyo Mvoko. The discussion had a representitive of the EFF present, Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, and a representitive from the South African national Editor's forum, Adriaan Basson, present.

Ndlozi continued to echo the sentiment among EFF members today that The New Age and ANN7 are not media, but instead are 'the communications department of the Gupta family masqerading as independent journalism.' He further stated that these news outlets serve only to normalise and legitimise the Guptas in South Africa today. He also stated that the EFF is conscious of the fact that this action puts the journalists that work at ANN7 and The New Age in the crossfire. Ndlozi did say these journalists are welcomed to EFF events in their personal capacity, but may not come in the name of the news outlets owned by the Gupta family.

Basson stated that SANEF are disappointed by the actions of the EFF and have previously perceived them to be welcoming to members of the press. He stated the organisation thought the actions were wrong and against the freedom of media freedom.


eNCA
South Africa's most watched news channel, eNCA, only covered the story as one element of the bigger story regarding the EFF's planned march against Zuma and the Guptas. In the report which included these comments from Malema, eNCA only ever mentioned 'media organisations owned by the Guptas,' not once referring to ANN7 or The New Age by name. A channel that stands up for press freedom in other countries barely gave airtime for press freedom here. [They really displayed a total lack of support to a fellow news organisation, even though that news organisation is a distant third to them when it comes to viewership, so they should not have feared losing many viewers by merely saying the word 'ANN7' on air ]

News and Actuality Programming Shifts as SABC Shuffles Schedule Across the Board

This past Tuesday (2nd February) the SABC announced across the board changes to the schedule of the free to air channels, [you know the name of those channels. I'm not writing them out].

Sotho/Tswana/Sepedi News moves from 7:30pm to 6:00pm 

The news bulletin that has a greater audience loses its timeslot for some reason, moving into the 6:00pm timeslot, a timeslot previously occupied by non-fiction fare that have typically not moved the ratings needle much (read: virtual tv deadzone).

Remember not too long ago this bulletin was shifted from 8:30pm to an hour earlier as the SABC stated viewers do not like waiting too late for their news. Problem is, will viewers be home in time for this bulletin.

Interesting to note that this is the same timeslot etv had its Sotho news bulletin in before it got cancelled due to the channel needing to slot in a third soap opera.

Sense Prevails: Fokus moves out of 7pm slot to 6:30pm slot. Also shifts from SABC3 to SABC2

Close you eyes and picture the person watching the Afrikaans news. Now close your eyes and picture someone watching the Afrikaans actuality program, Fokus. Did you picture the same person? Well, guess what? Both programs have been airing simultaneously on two different channels, forcing viewers with the exact same demographic profile to choose between the two. 

Well now Fokus will be the lead-in for the Afrikaans news and both shows' viewerships will be better because of it. 

Mzansi Insider moves an hour later

SABC1's weekend breakfast show, Mzansi Insider moves an hour later to 10am [shifting the Generations omnibus to 11am.]. The show also adds a new co host, Rorisang Thadekiso.

 Leihlo La Setshaba moves to 8:30pm on Thursday nights

SABC3 Adds Block of Documentaries and Current Affairs

Interface jumps from SABC 2 to SABC3 (essentially a swap with Fokus) and moves to an earlier 7pm slot on Sunday evenings.

This is only the start of what is the channel's new current affairs block which includes Special Assignment after Interface and then international documentary fare, like Ross Kemp, after that. 

[In other words,  the English news starts a 3 hour block of current affairs programming on the channel]

Vuzu Adds new Presenter to Line Up

Vuzu (DStv 114, 116) today announced that DJ Speedsta (Lesego Nkaiseng) will be joining their presenter lineup.

Since Cyprian Ndlovu left Vuzu for etv last year, Siyabonga Ngwekazi and Sammy Sosa have been filling in until the appointment was announced today.

Nkaiseng joins long time presenter Lalla Hiriyama, along with Shelton Forbes and Denise Zimba.

“I want to be a personality and a brand. I want to do more than I’m doing now; I want to do a whole bunch of things.”

DJ Speedsta debuts on V-Prime this Wednesday, February 3rd 2016.

eAfrica+ is now eNolly+

One of etv's digital channels that was launched for the OpenView HD bouquet,  eAfrica+ has recently quietly changed its name to eNolly+.

This reflects the channel's changing position of originally being a channel that aiming to broadcadst pan African stories to now solely focussing on Nollywood (Nigerian) films and series.

The channels schedule is even more loose than before, lacking a daily strand of programming, just basically showing a hodgepodge of Nigerian content around the clock, often with a great deal of repetition.

Peter van Onselen is the new permanent anchor of ANN7 Prime

ANN7's primetime news bulletin now has another anchor, Peter van Onselen.

This follows Sebenzile Nkambule's silent exit from the channel at the start of the festive season. Since then, lunchtime anchor Chante Jantjies did primetime coverage over the festive season with Peter taking over in what is his now permanent slot from the 28th of December 2015.

Sebenzile had taken over the bulletin just a few months prior when Nzinga Qunta vacated that position, citing that she could not cope as a full time student and prime time news anchor simultaneously. Sebe then maintained two jobs: ANN7 prime anchor and 4am anchor on PowerFM, a position she still holds. But going by social media, Sebe almost never made it known that she was an ANN7 anchor, never promoting interviews or coverage on social networks like Twitter.

Before anchoring ANN7 Prime, van Onselen had been anchoring Vuka Africa since September  2013 and prior to that was a bulletin editor at what is now eNCA.

This now leaves Abigail Visagie as the solo anchor of ANN7's breakfast show, Vuka Africa, which airs weekdays between 6am and 8am.

The format of ANN7 Prime remains largely unchanged, with news headlines, debate and interviews, the only bulletin to do so on a daily basis.

Joanne Joseph Returns to eNCA's Afternoon News

Veteran South African anchor, Joanne Joseph, today moved back to her former 4pm slot on eNCA.

This comes hot on the heels of Afternoon news' anchor, Duduzile Ramile, prermanently moving to anchoring eTV's eNews Direct.

Since the launch of eNews Direct on January 18th, a rotating cast of anchors have been filling in for Dudu, including the likes of Florence Lotoaba. That rotation now wends as Joane returns to the first slot she occupied when she moved from the SABC to eNCA.

This also means Cathy Mohlahlana will be solo anchoring the Mid-Morning News block, where Joanne used to anchor alongside her, until a replacement is named. This is also eNCA's biggest news block as the anchor in that block sits for a grueling four hour block from 9am.

This is a sort of pace change for Joanne, as she now goes from mainly anchoring live events like protests and major court cases (like Oscar Pistorius') to a more reflective news programme with interviews about the days biggest stories.