I am looking forward to April 7, when the SABC's prime time English news bulletin will move to the 19h00 slot. Immediate reaction from the media has been that the public broadcaster is trying to compete with the free to air channel ETV. Not so, says the SABC. The move was supposedly prompted by a change in people's evening viewing habits. I couldn't possibly be one of those viewers, because the last time I checked my evening habits had not changed. Nothing really outstanding has happened in the South African social arena to force a change in my evening lifestyle. I do consider myself an average television news viewer, if not a little more. Nonetheless I trust the SABC's research. I'm certain it was quite comprehensive.
Whichever way you want to look at it, the viewing public is being forced to choose. It is almost like the George Dubya syndrome, "you're either with us or the terrorists". I find that rather self-indulgent. So before you start drawing any conclusions let me make it clear that I have no objections to this decision taken by the SABC. In fact, I am quite OK with it. I'm considering the option of buying a split screen TV set! Both the SABC and ETV will have to get their ducks in a row in order to draw audiences. At the end of it all, news quality will have to improve. Both channels will have to produce superior quality, intelligent and credible bulletins in order to win or maintain high audience ratings.
Let's start with the frontline. Picture this: you have a choice between San Reddy and that squinting and surgically modified one on SABC 3, Mahendra... I have to pass my apologies to him, but I seem unable to catch his last name. Sure, Reddy has a bit of a speech problem, but clearly Mahendra cannot even imagine that he provides for any stiff competition. I hope the powers that be at the SABC have a plan in place! As for ETV, the first step would be to remove those eyesores that supposedly provide some decoration behind the presenters on the set. This is not Backstage. This is News! ETV also needs to find some comfortable setting for those presenters. That standing up business and that long coffee table just does not work, seriously. This is not Saturday Nite Live or News Café. This is prime time News. Even the dismissed Phat Joe Live on e had a better set!
Here's another factor. Both broadcasters will have to beef up their news content in order to keep or build their audiences. At the rate they are going I can just picture myself channel hopping between the two for the first five minutes of the news, until I decide that Cartoon Network is perhaps a better option. Of course, there's the alternative of waiting for the next day's newspapers.
The SABC needs to bring in some verve, credibility and measure of creativity to their news bulletins. While it is clear that the public broadcaster has resources in abundance, one sometimes wonders if there is in fact any editorial leadership to complement those resources. The reports are quite often pedantic, dreary and sometimes outright funereal. Most are without any clear editorial purpose. Who has not seen those reports from the SABC's correspondent in Baghdad? Furthermore, one sometimes gets the impression that the broadcaster's prime time news appears to be leaning more towards the right these days. The SABC News at 8 lacks sufficient character for one to actually formulate any opinion about it.
Then of course you have eNews Live at 7. We have to give them some credit. Their bulletins are pacey and lively. They also have more credibility in that they come across as independent. The presenters are energetic, though I suspect that they would display more energy if they were much more comfortable on a real set. Anyway let me not belabour the point about the coffee table!
The real problem with eNews is that they come across a lot as a regional television station. They almost remind you of the old Bop TV, pre-1994. Bop TV was quite exceptional when it came to movies and international entertainment. As for news and current affairs, it always smacked of that regional Bophuthatswana/Lucas Mangope grip! ETV needs to make its news more countrywide relevant in order to command national authority. There's so much you can say about PAGAD and Peter Marais, then it's time to move on! I think it is that time for ETV. Move on guys! Most of us do appreciate that the channel is trying to take a much more relaxed approach towards news. However this is not an excuse for bad grammar and news reports without substance. It is very difficult to hold concentration for that whole hour with the current level of news quality. But then again perhaps one is expecting too much. As a colleague said recently, "eNews ends at 19h30, after that they are just trying to fill airtime".
The point is that the SABC has upped the ante by moving their prime time English news to 19h00. Come April 7 we are all going to have to choose, either the SABC or ETV. As it is, the vote is tilting towards Cartoon Network. In the final analysis the decision to force us to choose was perhaps unnecessary and unfair. We are being placed in a position where we have to cast our votes over something we don't really have to. Both channels will have to do some serious campaigning to win audiences. South Africans deserve superior news quality and seasoned presenters and journalists. One can almost rest assured that most South Africans will use their remote controls to cast their votes. All that is left to say is "may the best man win".
