Jacquie Golding-Duffy speaks to the people behind the sweeping changes in current affairs programmes
The launch this week of a new current affairs programme – Question and Answer (Q&A) – marks the revamp taking place within the SABC’s television news department.
It has taken the new head of SABC-TV’s Current Affairs division, Sarah Crowe, less than two months to begin giving her stable of current affairs programmes a facelift.
Her plans created in late October of “changing the focus of current affairs slots” has been put in motion with the go- ahead of SABC Television News editor-in- chief Joe Thloloe.
Thloloe says Q&A is “the biggest change in the reformatting of the current affairs programmes”.
Crowe agrees. “The style used in the studio is common abroad but is a television style which is foreign to South Africa and will be seen as fresh and new to local viewers.”
Q&A, which will be broadcast on SABC 3 at 21h30 every Tuesday, encourages audience participation.
Panelists for the first episode included Minister of Environment Affairs and Tourism Pallo Jordan, Pan Africanist Congress MP Patricia De Lille and well-known economist and commentator Magnus Heystek. These three personalities fielded questions from the audience on a central theme: Muslim fundamentalism and the Cape Town community group, People against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad).
Crowe says the old actuality format, especially the Tuesday Debate, was scrapped because it was “getting tired”.
The new programme offers greater flexibility. “In the Q&A format we can tackle softer issues. The Tuesday Debate sometimes did not have a contentious issue around which one could develop a debate.”
Former Tuesday Debate host, Max du Preez, agrees. “This format allows for more leeway and draws in ordinary people who would otherwise not have an opportunity to ask questions which they feel are pressing,” he says.
Crowe adds that ”a myriad of subjects are discussed and viewers can hear what the major power players such as ministers, businessmen and others think of issues which are outside their field of expertise”.
Du Preez takes charge (or fails to take charge) of Q&A as he did at the Tuesday Debate, which has proven to be a recipe of success for him.
He stresses that Q&A “does not aspire to be another show of talking heads. nor does it want to be another Two Way.
“It’s about tackling issues via questions from ordinary people in the street.”
Thloloe said the revamp, which included a new, modern set that creates the illusion of space as well as brand-new logos “did not cost the corporation much” – an estimated R50 000. Most of the work, he says, was conducted by internal staffers using in-house facilities.
He says the five new-look current affairs programmes are an effort to look at current issues in a different way and to give news a bit of depth as well as a cutting edge.
The other current affairs programmes boasting a new look include Fokus with Freek Robinson every Wednesday on SABC 2 at 21h00 – to be a personality-driven show in Afrikaans and presented in the field. SABC 1 will continue to broadcast Focus at 20h00 where the main issues of the week will be discussed.
There will also be a Focus on Africa where it is hoped that stories concerning the continent will be highlighted and Focus Features, a new documentary programme.
Besides these changes, SABC is planning a monthly Focus on Business which will kick off on February 3 on SABC 2 at 21h00, followed by Focus on Media which will be broadcast on February 6 on SABC 3 at 21h30.
“The first Monday and Thursday of each month, viewers can enjoy these special Focus bulletins,” says Thloloe, adding that the Focus on Business is not aimed at competing with other business programmes. The SABC currently commissions a programme from Business Day called Business Tonight which is aired every evening at 10pm.
Focus on Media hopes to look at “broad media issues” ranging from internal SABC issues to advertising and marketing.