You're reading it here first.
I've told you about the brand-new CNN Marketplace Africa on CNN International (DStv 401) RIGHT HERE, Wednesdays at 20:45, anchored by South Africa's Robyn Curnow.
I spoke with her recently about the brand-new addition to the CNN International programming line-up to find out what CNN Marketplace Africa is all about and how the show will be different. I asked her about the challenges about the new weekly show she will be anchoring, what stories CNN Marketplace Africa will be covering, and what she's looking forward to the most to achieve.
Click on READ MORE below for my interview with Robyn Curnow.
You've been at the SABC, then CNN International as a correspondent and now you're a South African anchor on this global news channel. It's such an achievement for any South African to reach this in the broadcasting industry. How does it feel and can you tell me whether anchoring a show on CNN International has been one of your dreams or aspirations?
Absolutely! Who wouldn't want to anchor for CNN? It really is and remains one of those dream jobs in journalism in the world, it doesn't get any better than that. It's a real honour. I remain ever grateful for being able to work for such a great network and with such a great team. We have a wonderful bureau here in Johannesburg, mostly made up of South Africans. I think that's also a huge credit to CNN International and South African journalism and the South African media industry, definitely.
I know that the SABC gets a lot of flack and a lot of criticism these days but I was there as a reporter – I started off at the SABC as a TV journalist during the late nineties – and I can't tell you what a fantastic learning experience it was and just being on national television during my early twenties . . . it was just an opportunity that not a lot of journalists get.
I know the SABC is probably not the same as what it was, but in those days it was a great learning curve and a great training ground for young journalists. I was taught everything at the SABC, so I will give those people a the SABC a pat on the back. They made me who I was. They trained me and they were all South African. It is a huge honour for a South African but I didn't get here on my own.
Now fronting the weekly CNN Marketplace Africa, how will that stretch you further, what are some of the challenges that you are going to try and answer now?
It does stretch me in a sense because it's now going to be in addition to my daily reporting duties – with the Soccer World Cup coming up and breaking news that can happen anytime. This is a new weekly responsibility – which I'm happy to say I want to do. I've been wanting to do this for a few years. It's been something that I've wanted to do for a while. Also I just had my second child, I got a four month baby. I've got two kids under the age of three, so that also adds to my workload. My days are not exactly easy sometimes. There's a lot of challenges and trying to manage motherhood and breaking news and doing the best I can on the new CNN Marketplace Africa. It's one of those things where I'm going to work faster, work harder, and rely on my team as usual. I think I'll manage! CNN Marketplace Africa is a great show and I'm certainly going to put a 120% into it.
What do you and CNN Marketplace Africa want to bring to the audience and how will CNN Marketplace Africa try to set itself apart from the competition?
First of all CNN Marketplace Africa is the third show that CNN International is putting on in terms of specific, dedicated African coverage. CNN International already has Inside Africa and African Voices. CNN Marketplace Africa is our third commitment to strongly focused African programming. So, first of all CNN Marketplace Africa has to be different from the other shows - which it is of course, since it's focusing on business. It's not focusing on the numbers and quarterly results and stock exchanges . . . I'm sure somebody sitting in Brazil isn't going to be interested in that.
We want to pull it wider and tell of the trends, and the innovations and the scenes of business on the continent of Africa. We've got to make it relevant to the world and tell fascinating stories around business in Africa. That is the challenge – to make it relevant to a global audience. Big trends. It's very exciting. We will have hard-hitting interviews and I will try and make them tough but fair.
I think it's evident that this is a journalist interviewing a journalist, because you keep answering my next question and next question before I even ask it. My next question was going to be that CNN Marketplace Africa obviously joins Inside Africa and African Voices on CNN International. Can you give me a little bit of a sense on how CNN International is starting to see how, what is happening in Africa, as a growing priority – and not just CNN but also the rest of the world's media.
Firstly there's money to be made – business leaders know that there's far more than the stereotypes in Africa. Journalists have always know that there's far more than these stereotypes of Africa, so I think Africa is booming. You see the cranes from Sandton to Angola. Obviously there's money to be made. And when there's money to be made, business comes. And when business comes, the people show up. People are positive about this continent – especially regarding economic policies. Africa is not just written off as something that's irrelevant. People are interested in what is happening here. They find it fascinating that this continent has weathered the global economic credit crunch and global economic meltdown better than most places.
We as CNN International has the last few years absolutely been ramping up our coverage of the continent of Africa. Nobody can accuse us of neglecting the continent at all. We have bureaus in Lagos, Nigeria, in Nairobi in Kenia, down here in South Africa and Egypt as well. We're one of the few actually hiring people as oppose to the others closing down news bureaus. CNN Marketplace Africa is done from here and we're presenting it from here so its not even done from Atlanta, which is great.
We have 2010 and the Soccer World Cup which I think would factor into CNN Marketplace Africa over the next couple of months. Are there other broader themes that you would be looking at regarding stories?
It's a weekly show so we have to constantly come up with new stories. The Soccer World Cup is huge for us. But what is also huge is what is happening when it's over and whether the buzz is still there. We also don't just want to focus just on South Africa. Obviously South Africa is huge and has a huge economy but we're not going to neglect Angola or Ghana or Zambia. Those places are also doing their own share of market growth when it comes to telecommunications or construction. Companies in Africa are changing the way that they do business and its interesting how it all links up together. Lots of fascinating trends.
Robyn, what are you looking forward to the most with this new platform?
For me, on a personal level, it's a great opportunity to tell African stories, African business stories from our bureaus in Africa. This is a very personal endeavour in a sense – its telling the story of the fisherman in Lake Victoria being able to SMS the prices of his fish to the guy sitting in the market. It's telling African stories by Africans in Africa and I think that in itself is a wonderful experience. I just want people to be able to enjoy it and watch it and not feel they've been bogged down by stuff they don't understand. I want people to sit down and say ''Hey, I'm getting information and enjoyment and I learned something and it was great TV.'' I don't want to disappoint our global audience.
CNN Marketplace Africa, CNN International (DStv 401), Wednesdays, 20:45
