ABBREVIATIONS are supposed to be used sparingly in broadcast media, not least on television where viewers deserve to be given the benefit of doubt assuming they tune to a channel when a news item is in mid-stream.
Unlike when reading a newspaper article where someone has the luxury of going back to the first paragraph to make sense of an acronym, television audiences, especially during live broadcasts, have to rely on the presenters.
There are, of course, common acronyms such as UN, FAZ, UNIP that do not have to be spelt out but generally television stations have to use abbreviations sparingly if they have to carry viewers along in whatever presentation.
What I know is that clarity is the holy grail of my noble journalism profession and what does it help a television station if it is trying to disseminate information but chooses to package it in a manner that makes it difficult to comprehend?
I have noticed lately, especially on Muvi TV where even adverts now simply say Ts and Cs apply to mean terms and conditions apply.
Granted that viewers are not so daft not to know what the Ts and Cs thing stands for but then again what would the station lose if they spell it out? These are just two words that would not cost the station too much airtime to spell them out.
Have we become so fatigued now that even news items just say President Sata bla blah blah instead of President Michael Sata…. What if a viewer is visiting Zambia for the first time and they want to know the President’s first name?
Remember also that out there could be a grade four pupil who might just be doing homework on what the first name of the President is.
Besides, our President does not use a mouthful title like that of the late Malawian President His Excellency, The Life President (Paramount Chief) Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda, the Ngwazi.
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Television viewing does not get better than the decision by ZNBC to start broadcasting live the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) sittings at Parliament.
That, coupled with the live broadcasts of live parliamnetary debates on Parliament radio and other committee sittings is the very fruition of Parliamentary Reform Programme that brings the National Assembly closer to the public.
Like that, members of the general public are able to follow what their representatives are contributing in the House and make a better judgment on whether their Members of Parliament (MPs) are truly representing the electorate.
It must be outlined the palpable discomfort that most permanent secretaries face when appearing before PAC to explain glaring irregularities brought out by the Auditor General Anna Chifungula’s office.
While it can be celebrated that the PAC sittings are now live on air, I concur with the committee chairperson Vincent Mwale that it is not necessary for controlling officers to continue appearing for the same old story for financial impropriety.
The opening up of Parliament business to the public is a reform that will not only give viewing pleasure to television audiences but also provide school-going children a better understanding of what goes on inside the original Manda Hill.
In the same breath, it will be nice for television outlets to tell the viewers at what point the House should be referred to as National Assembly and just parliament. National Assembly is when the president is n attendance.
These are the innovations that the viewing public also expect from Muvi Tv in the station’s self styled status as the number one community news outlet more so that the issues brought out in the sittings concern the community.
The only time Muvi TV extensively covered the parliamentary committee sittings was when the station through its operations manager Mabvuto Phiri appeared before the Information and Broadcasting Services committee to discuss journalism ethics.
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To their credit, ZNBC have greatly improved on their local sports content including the highlights for the on-going Sochi Winter Olympics.
I was particularly impressed with the highlights of the CAF Champions League match between Nkana and Mbabane Swallows on the Main News at 19:00 hours which this time around captured all the goals instead of the usual clips of something else on the news.
What was most impressive was the fact that all the goals were captured despite the match having been a high scoring one.
The on drawback was that the same Nkana match was not shown live on television despite being a crucial assignment.
But still credit to ZNBC for blending local soccer content and international stage where the national broadcaster showed the much hyped UEFA Champions League crunch match between Arsenal and Bayern Munich which the Bavarians routinely won 2-0.
The Champions League bonanza coming barely 24 hours after the national broadcaster televised live the women team’s Africa Cup qualifier against Tanzania from Nkoloma Stadium, it was some feat though I naturally expected the Nkana match to be beamed live equally.
From what I saw on display in Charles Bwale’s team, there is a lot of potential although the girls badly need to have a competitive league up and running for them to start challenging for honours like their more illustrious menfolk.
I think these are the things that people pay television licence for and actually when I saw that the women team’s game was moved to Friday, I assumed it was so that the two matches do not clas on television.
Talking of Nkana, its like the Kitwe giants’ Red Devils moniker is back in full swing or at least so says out television stations.
The last time I checked the name had been dropped in view of my country being a Christian nation.
These days even the die-hard Nkana fans for some reason opt to call their team Devil Devil interchangibly with Kalampa. I am sure it is our duty as the media to put these things into perspective.