Today's interesting TV stories to read from TV with Thinus - 24 September 2015

Scream Queens on FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131) also a flop.
The second new FOX drama is also a loser and follows Minority Report as a ratings failure.

Meanwhile the new procedural thriller Limitless is solid and it will be available on your DStv Explora from Thursday instantly and later on M-Net (DStv 101) so you can watch it - the show won't go away or be cancelled.

Donald Trump slams FOX News (StarSat 261).
"FOX News has been treating me unfairly," says the Republican Party candidate in America; says he won't be doing any interviews with any FOX News shows in the future.
FOX News hits back and says Donald Trump's attacks are "stale and tiresome".

Egypt's president pardons Al Jazeera journalists.
After months in prison Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed of Al Jazeera (DStv 406 / StarSat 257) are freed from jail. Peter Greste says the fight is not over despite Al Jazeera colleagues' release from prison.

New MultiChoice headquarters in Johannesburg is green.
The new MultiChoice City complex in Randburg - complete with an artificial lawn and 15 real trees in the atrium - is turning heads and showing how corporations can create greener, healthier spaces for employees in South Africa.

The HBO Now account the Emmy's gave out has been deactivated.
Emmy host Andy Samberg told millions of viewers worldwide on TV to log in to the HBO Now streaming service. It has now been deactivated.


Trevor Noah: "There's been an epidemic of blackness on The Daily Show since I took over".
The new South African host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central (DStv 122) tells The New York Times that there was a "racial blindspot" with Jon Stewart at The Daily Show. "Since I've joined, blackness has tremendously increased on the show".


BBC to turn 3 J.K. Rowling novels into a new TV series.
Will adapt The Cuckoo's Calling, The Silkworm and the upcoming thriller Career of Evil into a new crime series called The Cormoran Strike Mysteries.

Netflix knows exactly what episode of what show can trigger binge-viewing.
The global streaming video-on-demand service knows precisely what shows and what episodes of a show will likely trigger binge-watching - and its not necessarily the pilot episode.
Netflix is now offering audio description - which proves that journalism (covering television) can still change the world.

TV's reality craze is over 15 years after Survivor started it.
Viewers are fatigued and tired of reality TV shows of the American kind. The reality genre has become stale and there's been too much reliance on "gimmicks". Of course totally faking things like South Africa's Oulap se Rooi on kykNET (DStv 144) helps to erode and break viewers' trust in the fake TV trash programming.

After that Robert Downey Jr. junket went wrong, yet another press junket interview blows up with Robert De Niro.
Another massive film publicity press junket makes headlines for all the wrong reasons as the difficult and condescending Robert De Niro walks out.

In Cuba there's barely internet - but they watch everything.
Fascinating insight in this article about how Cubans watch all the American TV shows and movies and read The New York Times through a vast underground system of distributing TV shows and publications through the entire country for their "subscribers".

BREAKING. Egypt sentences Al Jazeera journalists to 3 years in prison for operating without a press licence and not being 'registered' journalists.

In a retrial, an Egyptian judge this morning in Cairo sentenced 3 journalists who worked for Al Jazeera (DStv 406 / StarSat 257) to 3 years in court because they were operating without a press licence and were not "registered" as journalists in Egypt.

Interestingly, the SABC's controversial and famously matricless chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng in South Africa is advocating for the same "rules" for media and journalists in South Africa, wanting journalists to be "regulated" and registered.

At the conclusion of the retrial this morning, journalists Mohamed Fahmy from Canada and Baher Mohamed from Egypt were immediately taken into custody.

Australian journalist Peter Greste who was released and deported at the beginning of February this year, was convicted and sentenced by judge Hassan Farid in absentia in the farcical trial.

In the harsh judgment, judge Hassan Farid said that Mohamed Fahmy, Baher Mohamed and Peter Greste were not journalists because they were operating without a press licence and were never "registered" to practice journalism or to be journalists in Egypt.

Both were sentenced to more time in prison because judge Hassan Farid said they were not journalists.

Al Jazeera said the TV news channel is "sickened" by the "disgusting" conviction of its journalists.

Giles Trendle, Al Jazeera's acting managing director for Al Jazeera English appeared on the channel on Saturday morning, saying he is "shocked, sickened, appalled at today's verdict".

"They were arrested on false charges, they've been convicted without a shred of evidence, they were imprisoned for over a year. And now they're going back to prison. It's disgraceful, it's disgusting. We are shocked," said Giles Trendle.

"The safety and well-being of our staff is of paramount importance," said Giles Trendle.

"The judge said one of the reasons they were there [in prison] is because they were not members of the Egyptian journalists' syndicate. Well, obviously foreign journalists ... the syndicate is for Egyptian journalists," said Giles Trendle.

The three journalists were arrested in December 2013 after a raid on the Marriott Hotel in Cairo and sentenced to seven to 10 years in prison in 2014. International pressure forced a retrial.

This is the second trial in Egypt in the two trials that both had several postponements. The journalists will continue with yet another retrial - the last one allowed.

"Today's verdict defies logic and common sense," says dr. Mostefa Souag, Al Jazeera's acting director-general in a statement issued on Saturday.

"Al Jazeera will continue to call for their freedom and an end to the ordeal for Baher Mohamed, Peter Greste and Mohamed Fahmy and the six Al Jazeera staff who were sentenced in absentia."

"The support shown for Baher Mohamed, Peter Greste and Mohamed Fahmy has been loud and unified and has come from every corner of the world, from world leaders, journalists, human rights organisations and the general public."

"Al Jazeera calls on everyone to continue to fight for the freedom of speech, for the right of people to be informed and for the right of journalists around the world to be able to do their job," says dr. Mostefa Souag.

"We will not rest until Baher Mohamed, Peter Greste and Mohamed Fahmy and the six Al Jazeera staff sentenced in absentia are freed and formally and definitely acquitted from the trumped up charges against them."

Mohamed Fahmy has since distances himself from Al Jazeera and blasted the Qatar based 24-hour TV news channel, and accusing Al Jazeera of blatantly placing his life and the lives of his colleagues in grave danger, lying about Al Jazeera's lega status in Egypt.

Mohamed Fahmy who is also suing Al Jazeera for damages in a Candian court, also slammed Al Jazeera for displaying editorial bias in favour of Islamists.

Reporters Without Borders says it "reiterates its call for the acquittal of Mohamed Fahmy, Baher Mohamed and Peter Greste".

"We urge the Egyptian authorities to terminate the trial by dismissing all charges against the journalists. This judicial sham must end with everyone being acquitted," says Christopher Deloire, secretary-general of  Reporters Without Borders.

With at least 15 journalists detained in connection with their work, Egypt is the world's fourth biggest prison for media personnel (after China, Eritrea and Iran) and is ranked 158th out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

BREAKING. Jailed Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste in Egypt released and deported after 400 days behind bars.

The jailed Al Jazeera (DStv 406 / StarSat 257) journalist Peter Greste has been released and deported to Australia after spending 400 days behind bars in Egypt.

Peter Greste, a former BBC correspondent who also worked for CNN International, was arrested in December 2013, alongside Al Jazeera's Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed after which they were all convicted for 10 years in jail for aiding terrorism and helping the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood organisation.

According to Reuters Mohamed Fahmy who holds Canadian citizenship will be released within days as well.

There's been no statement from Al Jazeera on Sunday evening, but Al Jazeera's acting director-general Mostefa Souag told BBC news that "We're pleased for Peter and his family that they are to be reunited. It has been an incredible and unjustifiable ordeal for them, and they have coped with incredible dignity."

Mostefa Souag said that Al Jazeera "will not rest until Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fahmy also regain their freedom. The Egyptian authorities have it in their power to finish this properly today, and that is exactly what they must do."

On Sunday evening Al Jazeera America reported that the managing director of Al Jazeera English, Al Anstey said he was "relieved Peter Greste was freed and on his way home to be reunited with his family, but we've got to focus that Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fahmy are still behind bars, and seven of their colleagues that were sentenced to ten years in absentia are still sentenced today."


UPDATE 22:51 - In a press statement received at 22:51 Al Jazeera says "that the campaign to free its journalists in Egypt will not end till all three have been released".

"Peter Greste is on his way out of the country after 400 days in detention, but Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fahmy remain behind bars. All three have to be exonerated and the convictions against its Al Jazeera's other journalists tried in absentia also have to be lifted."

"Peter's integrity is not just intact, but has been further enhanced by the fortitude and sacrifice he has shown for his profession of informing the public," says Mostefa Souag, acting director-general of Al Jazeera Media Network in the statement.