Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:
■ MultiChoice Zambia and M-Net censor Talk with Kwangu on the Zambezi Magic channel on DStv.
MultiChoice scramble to remove all marketing for Talk with Kwangu and a rebroadcast of the episode on DStv Zambia's platform after an episode in which a woman details Zambian government and police brutality and Kwangu talks about how media plurality in Zambia is non-existent.
- Meanwhile Zambia's information minister (Zambia still has something like an "information minister") denies that the government threatened DStv.
■ MultiChoice and M-Net, Africa's largest TV platform, has a growing free speech and censorship problem.
■ Lowly-paid reporters at ANN7 (DStv 405) feel traumatised.
- ANN7 workers complaining of "exploitation" by Indian senior editors in particular say they're told they can't be paid more "because of the structure of the company".
- Almost all black ANN7 anchors have considered quitting.
- Have the words "permanent trainee" inserted into contracts in order to justify low pay.
- Owner Mzwanele "Jimmy" Manyi refuses to answer media questions and puts the phone down in a reporter's ear.
■ Zimbabwe woman Rumbidzai Evelyn Sibanda guilty and fined
for illegally selling DStv decoders in Zimbabwe that have been registered with South African addresses to give Zimbabwe viewers access to DStv South African content and making as if she's a MultiChoice agent.
■ The BBC will now have to reveal how many complaints it gets from viewers every two weeks.
Angry BBC not happy about having to reveal the number of complaints it receives every 2 weeks, having to identify the shows that received more than 100 complaints, and having to explain the editorial issues raised by the complaints.
■ Watching too much TV is bad for you, even if you exercise.
■ The latest channels list of TStv in Nigeria.
Which channels are being pirated illegally?
■ I want to love Star Trek: Discovery but it's an absolute mess.
■ How The Good Doctor seen on M-Net (DStv 101) became the new TV season's breakout hit.
