Matthew Krouse Down the tube
E.tv’s first News broadcast, last Sunday, seemed more electrifying than it actually was. It had the veneer of something urgent and new. But some of the more shocking images were old, and some of the language seemed hyped.
To start, the upbeat logo music pumped in over a blue montage of images of reporters in seriously “newsy” poses. One was jumping out of a mini-bus, video camera at the ready, while a helicopter hovered in the sky. This wasn’t just news, it was the pre-credit sequence to a war movie. And the blueness gave it that special NYPD Blue appeal.
Seconds later San Reddy appeared, by the SABC standards we’re used to looking very casual, wearing the proverbial navy blue blazer, but with an open necked shirt. Strangely, he presented the entire bulletin – all 30 minutes -perched on the corner of a desk! (It must have been hell on his butt.)
In the background laboured the silent, committed news team, showing no sign that, as the papers reported the next day, they were on the brink of a walkout when they were persuaded to stay.
The news followed, with less items than we’re used to, but appearing more in- depth than they would be on the news of the SABC. The correspondents, all in very casual attire, presented their items strolling, while the camera crept back.
This relaxed atmosphere was in sharp contrast to the language employed. Ambling through the harsh gangland of Westbury, for example, one correspondent stopped to speak to the locals, then turned to the camera and said: “They may dream of a better life, but as long as they remain trapped in the cycle of violence, the best they can hope for is to avoid being gunned down, or imprisoned, before the age of 30.”
One wonders how the people next to her felt about her assessment.
Later in the bulletin, in the feel-good slot toward the end, viewers were subjected to a South African classic: the successful Siamese twin separation story. Only this time, the item began with the words: “Fifty years ago Bernard would have been part of a circus freak show – today he’s a normal child.”
In both instances one becomes acutely aware that these people are making a soap opera out of the news.
This didn’t only apply to the language. On Monday, the Media Monitoring Project had issued a statement accusing the broadcaster of not warning viewers of the “upsetting content and . gruesome nature of the images.
“Images such as those screened last night,” it continued, “contribute to the dehumanising and desensitising of readers. When images of brutalised bodies become the norm, they lose shock value and fail to engender a common respect for human life. In bringing these images to the public, e.tv failed to inform the viewers of why they chose to use these images and their dramatic and violent content was reported without editorial context or explanation.”
What the above referred to was the shocking footage of the burning of Cape gangster Rashaad Staggie, seen on SABC last year, as well as CNN footage of a verification mission investigating a massacre that occurred in Kosovo.
After a final feel-good piece about a local male Chimpanzee who got partnered with a female from the Netherlands, the weather followed, bearing images of South Africa that made the country look very lovely indeed.
If it’s wars you like, then tune in to SABC1 at midday on January 22 when the re-enactment of the Battle of Isandlwana will take place.
It’s 120 years since this Anglo-Zulu war, and the re-enactment is an effort on the part of historical fetishists, who will combine with members of the local Rorke’s Drift community, to rekindle the war.
The event may make it to the SABC3 news that night, and hopefully the re- enactment will run smoothly and organisations like the Media Monitoring Project won’t have to report that there was any gratuitous display of blood.