Image from the commemorative book, e: The First 10 Years
The new editor-in-chief of the eNCA (DStv 403) news channel on DStv, Prof. Anton Harber, personally reached out to me just over a week ago regarding the news that e.tv no longer wants to do a TV news bulletin during prime time on e.tv.
As a TV critic (and a journalist who loves TV news) I also shared my personal thoughts and that I feel that e.tv is moving away from its once lofty TV news ideals.
It feels to me that e.tv overall seems less and less willing to want to fight for, and do more when it comes to TV news for South African viewers.
I have since asked e.tv for an interview with Prof. Anton Harber about his new job and position and about the news changes at eNCA and e.tv, and willtalk to him next week about that.
I didn't publish or make public Prof. Anton Harber's communication to me when he wrote to me, but today he said that he feels that I should be carrying his letter to me in response to my article about e.tv's proposed plan to drop its news bulletin in prime time.
Here is his letter:
"You asked in your blog today, what I, as the new eNCA Editor-In-Chief, think about e.tv's application to Icasa to allow it to change its news programming.
Your suggestion that this is e.tv dumping its news is misleading.
Rather, the station is looking for some flexibility to deal with changing audience and revenue demands. We will still have the same obligation to do two hours a day of news.
I would not have joined this company if I was not convinced that it had a serious commitment to serving its audiences with news and current affairs.
I can assure you that everything I have seen in my few weeks in this post has confirmed this commitment.
News may shift around and change and we live in a world in which news consumption is changing radically but we are more committed than ever to ensure our news meets audience needs and is of the highest quality."
Prof. Anton Harber
