How far away keeps the press at bay and media coverage muted: How shows - from the Saftas to Survivor SA - will likely get less coverage this year taking place so far away with expensive travel costs that makes productions drop the media.

The media coverage in and by the press of some shows broadcast on South African television in 2019 will be notably down and less this year than in the past and what it could, and would, normally be.

Blame far-flung on-location production shoots making it too expensive for media to travel there without the inclusion or assistance from broadcasters, and travel costs that are too prohibitively expensive for broadcasters and organisers and their limited marketing budgets who end up dropping the media contingent from their plans.

The result is less coverage - a blend of media simply not being there and being able to report on it, and media also snubbing something where it can't effectively compete to provide coverage against perceived competitors who did get access.

Once again the coverage from, and on, the South African Film and Television Awards, organised by the department of arts and culture's National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), will be severely limited since the 13th Saftas took place at the luxury Sun City resort in the North West province, in the middle of nowhere, with very few media in attendance compared to years past.

The NFVF that did host press in the past said it isn't hosting any media this year, with the majority of editors from media outlets who are reluctant and simply don't have the travel and accommodation budget to dispatch journalists to cover the Saftas.

Media coverage of the latest upcoming season of Survivor South Africa: Island of Secrets on M-Net (DStv 101) starting on 16 May and set on islands in Samoa will this time very likely be similarly dramatically down from previous seasons, with a number of media who in all likelihood won't be covering the show at all.

The number of journalists and media who got a chance to visit Survivor SA: Island of Secrets on-location during filming of the Afrokaans produced show set in the South Pacific was dramatically cut this year as well.

Similarly to the Saftas the editors of print and online publications as well as broadcast media can't pay to send their journalists halfway around the world to do first-hand reporting for M-Net's island reality TV show, and M-Net this year only flew less than half a hand of journalists to Samoa.

Neo Moretlwe, NFVF communications coordinator, in response to a media enquiry asking whether the 13th Saftas would be hosting media and press this year, told TVwithThinus it won't.

While the NFVF did so so in the past when the Saftas took place in Johannesburg, as well as a few times in Sun City since the inexplicable and out-of-the way move to the North West province, the NFVF and Saftas organisers are not doing so anymore.

SABC2 as the broadcaster of the Saftas has never even bothered to try and involve or invite press in any of the years it has broadcast the awards show.

It all means less pre-award show coverage, fewer print interviews, fewer profile pieces and articles, fewer broadcast interviews, fewer photos, and less real, credible, first-hand coverage - in short: less earned-media coverage overall for what is supposedly South Africa's most important TV and film awards.

"Unfortunately, due to budget constraints, the NFVF is unable to accommodate media this year," said Neo Moretlwe. "Some of the event sponsors have taken the liberty to invite media directly at their own cost. On our part, we will do our best to prioritise all media queries from journalists unable to attend the live event".

For M-Net's Survivor South Africa: Island of Secrets, media coverage will likely be less than what it was for any other previous season as well, with the show's 7th season taking place the furthest away from South Africa it has ever been.

That has led to the smallest number of media visiting during any of the seasons of the show, with travel time taking up to 60 hours to get there from Johannesburg to Hong Kong and then to the South Pacific.

For media visits to the production of Survivor SA: Island of Secrets, due to travel and accommodation costs, M-Net put specific criteria in place as it made a shortlist for who could go, and that cut down on the number of journalists who were invited to go to the island this year.

M-Net emphasises that all media will have equal access to stories about Survivor SA: Island of Secrets this year, with the only difference being that there would be 2 or 3 journalists who got to experience the filming process.