IT boggles the mind how some television presenters argue in the studio or just break into unnecessary chatter forgetting that most, if not all, programmes have a specific time frame.
It has left me wonder if our television presenters are still guided by any scripts or they just go by the flow. Arguing is most rampant during programmes that are presented by more than one presenter. They literary try to outdo each other.
Mostly on the morning programmes, presenters have found themselves not only talking at the same time but also arguing or veering away from the topic at hand, thereby losing the viewers.
Talking about morning magazine programmes, I have often times been left wondering who chooses some of the topics of discussion.
The breakfast shows anchored by Bright Sinkozi and Ngenda Kamayoyo on Muvi TV particularly are very insightful but their choice of topics sometimes leaves much to be desired.
A case in point is last Thursday morning’s choice of the theme ‘Why are men not allowed to bury still-born babies?’ Make no mistake, this is a good point of discussion but a bit offside for a 06:00 hour show.
What compounded the problem was that the SMS contribution from viewers could not be read out because of a faulty system, leaving the two gentlemen to solely discuss the topic between themselves as experts.
Both Bright and Ngenda have an enviable command of several local languages but I believe such a topic required far reaching expertise to handle it. Matters of tradition and culture and especially where they meet modern-day science, are very delicate.
Also, such a topic should have been allocated to slots for later in the day. There are no hard and fast rules but ideally, early morning shows should be restricted to programmes of the current affairs nature, weather forecasts and traffic watch.
ZNBC’s morning live does a good job to pick out a topic of discussion while getting to the in-depths of some of the items that were in the news the previous day, although re-running the same items word-for-word without any update is also not on.
BREAKING NEWS
Time is also ripe for our television stations to introduce breaking news segments. Either as line scrolling at the bottom of the screens or just an outright independent bulletin as and when something breaks out.
It becomes an anxious wait for viewers to hear of a ground-breaking occurrence during the day but have to wait for the evening main news bulletins on television to get the official news item on the television channels.
The breaking news can be anything from the dismissal of a political figure, a Cabinet reshuffle, an earthquake, accident or even the release of grade 12 results. In this era of social media, television stations have to fight to retain their relevance.
That is why even major global television stations have online social media feeds where they break out big stories as they happen instead of waiting for news bulletins.
I have said it before that breaking news is one acceptable time when a television station can disrupt its normal programming to reach out to the viewers.
Muvi TV is one reliable source of information although most of the breaking news is done on the station’s Facebook wall as opposition to the television channel itself.
We need to get to a level where upon seeing huge plumes of smoke billowing in town, you quickly tune to Mobi TV, TBN, Muvi TV or ZNBC-TV to get the full details of what is burning.
A television station worth its licence must always pride itself in always being the first to break out news, whether international or local.
SPORTS
I have been following local media reports on preparations for last weekend’s friendly match between Zambia and Sudan as well as yesterday’s Africa Cup qualifier against Mozambique.
Sports journalists have been missing the point on who a professional footballer is. This is for both print and broadcast sports reporters who have created an impression that a professional footballer is one who plies his trade in a league outside the country.
Most back pages of newspapers as well as television stations have been reporting that a particular number of professional players have joined the Zambia camp in reference to foreign-based players.
My understanding is that a local-based player can be a professional footballer too. According to my trusted dictionary, a professional is a person engaged in a specified activity as one’s main paid occupation rather than as an amateur.
Away from soccer, the age-old argument that soccer gets the biggest share of coverage has been laid bare by the lukewarm coverage of the on-going International Handball Federation (IHF) Zone Six championship which Zambia is hosting.
This championship is equivalent to the COSAFA Cup but like my argument about breaking news, updates about the event that Zambia has incidentally dominated have to wait for days when respective television stations have sports shows.
From the mailbag, a reader pre-emptied my thoughts about the live coverage of the friendly match between Zambia and Sudan by our national broadcaster ZNBC.
“Dear Xavier,
What has been happening to your column the last two weeks? I thought of sharing my thoughts about the commentator of the friendly match between the Chipolopolo and Sudan. That game marked the official opening of the Heroes National Stadium and as such ZNBC should have given their best shots.
Without taking anything away from Innocent Kalaluka, the man still has a lot to learn about the trade. Despite what people have said before, when all the goals were scored, he kept shouting wele!.
Apart from that, he did not know most of the players’ names. I wonder if he had a line-up. Dennis Liwewe must have been turning in his grave to hear his trade mutilated like that.
Concerned TV levy contributor.”
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