TV CRITIC's NOTEBOOK. Journalists from across the continent on a Big Brother Naija TV junket with MultiChoice Africa showed off their dazzling feeding frenzy as they 'selfie'd just about everything - except for actually reporting the news and about the business of Big Brother.

If you thought there were going to be reams and reams of detailed, timeous stories as well as comprehensive reporting from the group of journalists from across Africa who went on a week-long TV tour with MultiChoice to Lagos, Nigeria to cover the launch of the 4th season of Big Brother Naija, you thought wrong - and haven't been keeping track of the trash level of what's passing as (non)coverage and reporting of Africa's entertainment and TV industry.

What we did get were selfies - lots and lots of them - food videos, what they drank, their gifts, their nightclub escapades, their dazzling pouting and even their red carpet strutting - because so-called journalists want to be photographed appearing on the red carpet themselves these days, instead of behind the rope line covering it.

While the gaggle of journalists that The MultiChoice Group invited enjoyed their multi-day stay at the Radisson Blu Anchorage Hotel on Victoria Island in Lagos last week in the lead-up to the live show launch event of the 4th season of Big Brother Naija on Sunday, you'd be hard-pressed, even days later, trying to find any story or any actual incisive reporting from any of the multiple media sessions or studio and set tours they did.

What exactly the return on the investment is for MultiChoice when so-called journalists from across Africa go on a week-long media junket and do little to absolutely nothing except taking selfies to make themselves look good, is anyone's guess.

For journalism and entertainment journalism, and in terms of reporting about the TV industry on the continent, it's however once again highly embarrassing - besides looking like a massive MultiChoice waste of money.

FOOD FOOD FOOD 🤸🏿‍♂️🤸🏿‍♂️💃.
##bbnaijaexperience19 @DStv_Ghana @GOtvNg @MultiChoiceGRP pic.twitter.com/1Uhh9o5U47

— Entertainment chic 👌🏿: @adwoaloudgh (@adwoaloudgh) June 28, 2019

Journalists did a media session with John Ugbe, MultiChoice Nigeria CEO; Femi Odugbemi, the West African director of the MultiChoice Talent Factory and students; Wangi Mba-Uzoukwu, M-Net West Africa channels director; as well as studio and set visits of SuperSport and M-Net's prime time soap Tinsel.

They saw, stayed in, and got to personally experience the Big Brother Naija house. They attended the new season's live launch event and afterparty on Sunday night.

The normal expectation is that there wouldn't and shouldn't just be at least one story about each of those, but multiple stories about all of it since journalists got on-location access as well as access to several TV executives, producers and on-screen talent over days.

Instead journalists did almost nothing - besides visibly pandering social media selfies and show-off videos like opening Big Brother Naija gift boxes (ooh, 12 spices!), their meals, their drinks, showing off their dressing up for nights out to have dinner and going to nightclubs - essentially anything but covering and reporting on Big Brother Naija and what they've seen, heard and were told about MultiChoice and its TV operations.

Where is the return on the investment? Where is the duty to the public?

Is Insta-posts from TV Tour, with the swirl of FX-glitter for effect, the level we've fallen to and all that the public get now when access media forsake what they're supposed to be there for?

Are you ready for the hottest season of #BBNaija starting this Sunday on @DStvUganda!?! My #bbnaijaexperience just got hotter with this welcome gift from Big Brother! pic.twitter.com/Z468beuMB4

— Charlie Denzel Mwiyeretsi 🇺🇬 (@DenzelUG) June 27, 2019

It's hugely problematic when on a TV junket, it's more publicly known that journalists went to Lagos' Lekki market, visited Freedom Park in downtown Lagos, visited the Nike Art Centre for Art and Culture and had a night out at N-tyce, than what it is to find any actual reporting on what the journalists were there to cover and report on workwise about the latest African version of the Endemol Shine Group's reality format show.

MultiChoice literally gave journalists the experience of staying over for a night in the newly-created Big Brother Naija camera-filled house - the first time in 13 years (since 2006) that a Big Brother production has been done from inside Nigeria, while M-Net and SuperSport gave access to their studios and shows.

Scour the interwebs and try and find stories from the overnight experience or the various other productions and what was said or seen there.

Beyond the lack of first-hand reports about the Big Brother Naija stay (of which there should rightly be several), there are no reports about the design, the construction, the production behind-the-scenes, the new broadcasting set-up from Lagos, or what went into the creation of the house.

Where is the coverage?

It's as if some people were simply picked for a multi-day holiday in Lagos as part of a week of self-entitled feeding, frolicking and having fun without doing the work - which is to represent the hundreds or thousands of readers, listeners or viewers, and to report on the business of broadcasting and the business of Big Brother Naija.

It's inexcusable.


ALSO READ: From a male stripper to a lawyer and a police officer working in Londen are part of the 21 Nigerian housemates competing in the 4th season of M-Net West Africa's Big Brother Naija on DStv that is now done from a studio in Lagos.
ALSO READ: IN IMAGES. 50 photos from inside the house of the 4th season of Big Brother Naija and its colourfully designed interior.

MultiChoice Africa launches a new TV and film academy, the MultiChoice Talent Factory; applications open for 60 film students from 13 African countries for a year long paid internship at one of three MTF academies across Africa.

MultiChoice Africa is launching a new initiative for the African continent, the MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF), a year long skills and training programme for 60 students across 13 African countries to help them gain experience and knowledge in Africa's TV and film industry.

MultiChoice Africa's MultiChoice Talent Factory follows M-Net in South Africa's 4-year old Magic in Motion Academy that was established in 2014 to provide a year long intensive internship to new graduates in the film and TV sector.

Entries for MultiChoice Africa's MultiChoice Talent Factory opens today and closes on 5 July 2018.

This year-long, funded programme will be supported by three MultiChoice Talent Factory academies hosted in Nairobi, Kenya (for East Africa); Lagos, Nigeria (for West Africa) and Lusaka, Zambia (for Southern Africa), with 20 students each.

Students will create local content that will be broadcast on the various M-Net channels carried on MultiChoice's DStv and GOtv satellite pay-TV platforms throughout Africa, including Africa Magic, Maisha Magic East, Maisha Magic Bongo, Zambezi Magic, M-Net and SuperSport.

Each of the three academies will be overseen by an Academy Director who are experts in film and TV: Njoko Muhoho in Nairobi, Femi Odugbemi in Lagos and Berry Lwando in Lusaka.

Similar to M-Net's Magic in Motion Academy in South Africa, people who want to enter for this new Pan-African internship, must have a qualification from a registered or recognised post-secondary education institution in drama, film television or a related media field, must have some experience in the TV and film industry, and be older than 18.

People who want to enter must be fluent in English and must be a citizen and resident from one of these 13 African countries: Angola, Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia or Zimbabwe.

People who want to enter must register at www.multichoicetalentfactory.com and fully complete the online application form and write an online motivation letter.

The first class of the MultiChoice Talent Factory is planned to start in October 2018 and end in September 2019 with participants who will be "paid" a monthly stipend to pay for living expenses. MultiChoice Africa will also be paying for travel between cities for the interns.

"The film and TV industries have not developed at the same rate as other industries on the continent, and not for a lack of talent, passion or imagination," says Brand De Villiers, MultiChoice Africa CEO.

"We are abundantly blessed in these areas, however the space given for this expression has at best been limited and at worst, been relegated to the fringes of the mainstream economy, leaving in its wake unfulfilled dreams, unexplored talent and unwritten stories."

Brand De Villiers says the launch of the MultiChoice Talent Factory forms part of MultiChoice's new strategy of increasing its investment in creating shared value by using the satellite pay-TV operator's core business resources, people and skills to create positive change in society.

"Film making knowledge and skills that translate into enhanced livelihood is what our youth in the creative industry desire," says Njoko Muhoho, MTF Academy director for East Africa.

She says the MultiChoice Talent Factory will be a "12-month long film making boot camp" where students can get experiential and practical film making skills to create entrepreneurial filmmakers.

Berry Lwando says the MultiChoice Talent Factory will "not only tap into Africa's talent but also grow it by upskilling our youths so that they can grow our creative industries."

"This is part of a game-changing era in which creative and productive skills will be developed to enable local content be produced and compete with the best across any genre."

Femi Odugbemi says the MultiChoice Talent Factory will help "emerging filmmakers [to be] better equipped in the creative processes". "We must consciously build capacity so that our next-generation filmmakers and producers can also create wealth and create employment by being entrepreneurs as well".

Nigerian film producer Femi Odugbemi calls for better co-operation and collaboration between Nigeria and Ghana's TV and film industries at MultiChoice's 5th Digital Dialogue Conference.

There should be bigger co-operation and collaboration between Ghana and Nigeria to not just grow the respective film and television industries in both West African countries, but to unlock bigger opportunities and to grow the economies and improve conditions and employment in the sector.

So said the Nigerian film producer Femi Odugbemi, CEO of Zuri24 Media Limited, who spoke on Wednesday at the ongoing 5th edition of the Digital Dialogue Conference taking place in Dubai in the United Arab Emirate (UAE) organised by MultiChoice.

MultiChoice didn't invite any South African journalists or media to the conference facilitated by the satellite pay-TV operator, and there was no advance media advisory or notification.

The Digital Dialogue Conference is centred around gaining a better understanding of the future direction of the video entertainment industry across Africa as a whole.


ALSO READ: MultiChoice entertainment boss Yolisa Phahle warns Africa's TV biz: With more choices than ever, we have to find new ways of engaging better with viewers, as shiny substitutes Netflix, Facebook and YouTube are ready to eat our lunch in an instant.


"Ghana and Nigeria should work together to grow their respective movie industries and that of the West African sub-region," said Femi Odugbemi.

"This collaboration will contribute greatly to the improvement of the two industries and our countries."

He told conference-goers that greater collaboration and co-operation between the TV and film sectors of each country - with inter-government assistance - will help to reduce unemployment, and he called for better collaboration between the two countries' movie industries to improve distribution, production and sharing of ideas  to better market their respective stories.

He said Nigeria's film biz - known as Nollywood - needs to continue to innovate and not lose focus during the seismic wave of global digital disruption that is also affecting Africa's creative sphere.

"Nollywood found its audience and its audience found it because its story telling connected to the cultural experiences of its audience," said Femi Odugbemi, and cautioned that Nigeria's film biz is set to continue its growth if it takes proper advantage of digital changes.

"Digital solutions will open up a number of possibilities across Nollywood's sub-sectors, including distribution, production, manpower and governance."

"If there has ever been an industry that created digital dialogue from the word go, it would be Nollywood," he said.

According to Femi Odugbemi filmmaking in Nigeria is gradually becoming more sophisticated because of the growing options of digital film making like virtual scene creation. Nollywood now has an average of 50 crew per film set, with 2 000 film projects in Nigeria per year and estimated 2 million people being employed within Nigeria film and TV industry.

M-Net adds new Nigerian weekday telenovela, Battleground, to Africa Magic Showcase on DStv revolving around the Bhadmus family.

M-Net has added a new Nigerian weekday telenovela to DStv with Battleground that kicked off on Monday 1 May at 21:00 on Africa Magic Showcase (DStv 151) revolving around the extended Bhadmus family and its troubles with power, money and fame.

Battleground follows the success of Africa Magic's recently concluded telenovela Hush and the launch of new shows like the sitcom My Flatmates and the telenovela Jemeji.

Produced for M-Net by the Nigerian filmmaker and Tinsel producer Femi Odugbemi, Battleground revolves around patriarch Chief Kolade Bhadmus and his family and their entangled personal, family and business dealings.

The Battleground cast includes Nollywood veterans Joke Silva, Yinka Davies, Gbenga Titiloye and Francis Onwuchei. 

Other actors are Shaffy Bello, Ozzy Agu, Okey Uzoeshi, Ini Dima-Okojie and Hauwa Allahbura, with The Voice Nigeria finalists Chike Osebuka and Nonso Bassey also making appearances.

"Battleground is an exciting new telenovela that shows how the combination of love, lust, greed and power ultimately results in a powerful story with different, ripple effects for everyone involved," says Wangi Mba-Uzoukwu, M-Net West Africa director.

"Battleground is yet again another example of Africa Magic's continued investment in the African film and television industry. The show features an emsemble cast that mixes established Nollywood actors and new, up-and-coming faces in the industry. I urge viewers to tune in and catch this amazing show."