eNCA's racist mask-scandal widens: SANEF criticises defensive eNCA for immature response, president Cyril Ramaphosa 'quite disturbed', UDM lodges broadcasting complaint, EFF demands inquiry and wants eNCA banned from parliament, IFP ghosts eNCA.

by Thinus Ferreira

The racist mask-scandal of eNCA (DStv 403) continues to widen with the South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF) that is criticising the TV News channel for its defensive and immature response that it says "lacks the maturity that this moment demands", while the country's president Cyril Ramaphosa says he was "quite disturbed" to see eNCA's mask double-standard approach.

At least one political party, the UDM, has now lodged an official complaint about eNCA at the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA); another political party, the EFF, has called for an official and urgent parliamentary inquiry into eNCA which it wants to be banned from the parliamentary precinct; while an IFP MP has said he won't be giving any further interviews to eNCA or e.tv's eNews until it changes its statement.

The latest controversy that the eMedia Investments TV news channel finds itself in started when viewers noticed during the channel's 2021 Budget Speech interviews on Wednesday to get reaction over Tito Mboweni's speech, how white and black politicians were treated differently during interviews.

Viewers noticed a pattern in the way in which reporter Lindsay Dentlinger, that eNCA said has 21 years of experience, did a series of interviews on the steps of parliament where black politicians were repeatedly asked to wear their Covid-19-masks but white, maskless politicians didn't get similar instructions.

eNCA blamed it on the pressures of "live television" and said that its reporter isn't racist and that the apparent double standard is not because of "malicious intent".

Viewers and politicians have been up in arms about the incident, angered even further by eNCA response which the TV News channel struggled to formulate and that only communicated about for the first time on Thursday night at 22:02 in a media statement.

Sbu Ngalwa, chairperson of the South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF) says "This issue and the responses that it elicited should be one big lesson for us as the media industry and it is not just about eNCA or their journalist but it is about us as the media".

"It challenges us as newsrooms to now introduce standards of procedure in terms of how we treat guests during these times of Covid-19," he said.

"Those who are angry about this incident are justified," says Sbu Ngalwa. "The individuals who feel affronted have a right to be angry, they also have a right to be heard. This is a moment that calls for cool heads and for reflection."

"Where we have made mistakes we should admit our mistakes. We should not be defensive and cast those who criticise us as being malicious. Journalists are not above criticism. That is why I feel that the statement released by eNCA last night is quite unfortunate and it lacks the maturity that this moment demands."

"This is not the time for us to bury our heads in the sand and to be defensive," says Sbu Ngalwa.

Cyril Ramaphosa, South African president, says "When I saw what happened outside the doors of parliament I was quite disturbed". 

On Friday the #NotInMyNameInternational civil rights organisation picketed outside the eNCA headquarters in Hyde Park, Johannesburg.

The United Democratic Movement (UDM) political party on Friday lodged an official complaint against eNCA with the BCCSA over what it says is the apparent double standards of the eMedia Investments TV news channel's interviewing techniques, and the conduct of the eNCA production team as well as reporter Lindsay Dentlinger.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) political party has now written to the Speaker of the National Assembly, requesting that an urgent inquiry be instituted against eNCA and Lindsay Dentlinger, accusing eNCA and the reporter of racism within the parliamentary precinct.

The EFF says that Lindsay Dentlinger violated Section 9.4 of South Africa's Constitution. The EFF wants parliament to fire or ban Lindsay Dentlinger from the parliamentary precinct and wants eNCA removed, fined or banned from parliament for defending her actions.

Mkhuleko Hlengwa, MP of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), said that he will not be giving any further interviews to either eNCA or e.tv's eNews until eMedia Investments revises its statement about the mask incident and the conduct of Lindsay Dentlinger.

ALSO READ: eNCA blames pressure of live TV for its Budget Speech 2021 interviews mask-scandal, says TV news channel's apparent double standard ‘was not racially motivated’.

Coronavirus: e.tv cameraman Lungile Tom fondly known as 'Marawa' who worked for eNews and eNCA dead from Covid-19, staffers who had contact will be tested and told to stay home.

by Thinus Ferreira

The South African TV news cameraman Lungile Tom (45) who worked for e.tv's eNews and eNCA (DStv 403) TV news channel died on Wednesday morning from the Covid-19 coronavirus after he was hospitalised on Sunday night.

Sources told TVwithThinus on Wednesday morning that Lungile Tom was hospitalised and that e.tv's Cape Town office has shuttered the floor where he worked for the time being and staffers told to work from home.

Lungile Tom, fondly known as "Marawa" joined eNCA in December 2013 from CNBC Africa (DStv 410). He leaves behind his wife Nandipha and their children.

So far there's been no comment or statement from e.tv who was asked about the developments.

In an internal email to staffers that TVwithThinus has seen, eMedia Investments said that "the company is saddened by the loss of one of our cameraman, Lungile Tom, our colleague and friend, working for eNCA, based in Cape Town".

Below is the communique that has now been sent to e.tv staffers:

Dear All, The Company is saddened by the loss of one of our cameraman, Lungile Tom, our colleague and friend, working for eNCA, based in Cape Town. Lungile was admitted into hospital on Sunday night, May 10, with COVID-19 related symptoms. His test results confirmed last night that he had COVID-19 and he passed away in hospital this morning, Wednesday May 13. Lungile joined eNCA in December 2013 as an ENG Camera Operator bringing his skills from CNBC Africa. Lungile was known for his larger than life personality and his dedication to his craft. His buoyant laughter will be sorely missed. Our thoughts are with his wife, Nandipha and his children. In adherence to government regulations, we have disinfected and closed the affected floor at the Cape Town offices. The Company has informed the Department of Labour, and in the meanwhile instituted a tracing and tracking process. All employees who have had contact with Lungile have been advised to stay at home, will be tested and go into self-isolation.



UPDATE: Wednesday 13 May 2020 11:30 - eMedia Investments has issued a statement about the death of Lungile Tom:

"eMedia Investments is saddened by the loss of one of its camera operators who was based at the eNCA Cape Town office.

Our colleague was admitted to hospital on Sunday night, May 10, with COVID-19 related symptoms. He was subsequently tested and admitted to intensive care when his test results confirmed that he had COVID-19.

He passed away in hospital this morning, Wednesday, May 13.

eMedia Chief Operating Officer, Antonio Lee, said the cameraman joined eNCA in December 2013 as a Camera Operator. He was previously with CNBC Africa.

“He was known for his larger than life personality and dedication to his craft. His buoyant laughter will be sorely missed and our thoughts are with his wife, as well as his children.” Lee said.

eNCA will adhere to all government regulations and have taken the necessary precautions to disinfect all areas and equipment.

We have also instituted a tracing and tracking process. All employees who had contact with him have been advised to stay at home. They will be tested and will go into self-isolation.

eMedia is making plans to honour our colleague’s memory."


Here is how eNCA reported the death of Lungile Tom on Wednesday afternoon at 12:00:

Coronavirus: @eNCA (@DStv 403) reports about the death of the @etv cameraman Lungile Tom from Covid-19 who was fondly known as 'Darama': pic.twitter.com/ZfxiCovJFX

— TVwithThinus (@TVwithThinus) May 13, 2020

The South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF) in a statement on Wednesday afternoon about the death of Lungile Tom said:

"The South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) is deeply saddened to hear of the death of Lungile Tom, a cameraman, who worked at eNCA at the company’s Cape Town office. Lungile was turning 46 this year."

"SANEF believes that this tragic death points to the very dangerous work that journalists do, working on the frontline."

"We call on all media companies to assist journalists with protective gear and for journalists to be extra careful and follow all safety precautions. We also call on media companies, where possible, to assist journalists with trauma counselling."

"SANEF sends its heartfelt condolences to Lungile’s family, friends and colleagues."


ALSO READ: etv News boss Nisa Allie pays tribute to cameraman Lungile Tom who died from Covid-19: The loyal 'fist-pumping guy who documented everything and who liked a muffin and coffee for breakfast'.
ALSO READ: Coronavirus: eNCA anchor Sally Burdett on the Covid-19 death of cameraman Lungile Tom as more details are revealed: 'It's just so sudden and so shocking and so desperately sad.' 
ALSO READ: Coronavirus: Lockdown of eMedia Investments' e.tv building in Cape Town for a Covid-19 deep-clean after cameraman Lungile Tom's death, over 70 staffers sent into home-quarantine to self-isolate for 14 days.
ALSO READ: Coronavirus: Tributes flow after Covid-19 death of etv News and eNCA cameraman Lungile Tom: 'A tender, older-brother figure whose physical size made you feel safe and secure no matter where we were reporting from'.

Khalik Sherrif in aspirational and first public speech as new eMedia CEO says e.tv's free-to-air satellite TV service Openview is transitioning 'from the outbuilding to the main house'.

In his first public speech as new CEO of eMedia Investments, Khalik Sherrif says e.tv's rebranded and fast-growing free-to-air digital satellite TV service, Openview, is moving to the "main house", shedding its image as a TV service just for domestic workers and granny.

In a fiery and aspirational public speech at the exclusive black tie launch event of Openview's new TV commercial, Khalik Sherrif who took over as new eMedia CEO since the beginning of this month, weighed in on Openview's growth, future prospects and ambitions, and the platform's role in South Africa switch from analogue to digital terrestrial television (DTT) - a process known as digital migration.

The experienced veteran TV executive who has been with eMedia for over 15 years, started with an anecdote of how e.tv that in October celebrated two decades of broadcasting in the country, helped to change and shape the South African television landscape.

"When e.tv started, nobody gave us a chance. Twenty years ago they said, 'What do those guys know about TV? Who are they? They are not going to last?' Twenty years later we are still here and we are growing because we dared to be different over all those years."

"When all of you grew up watching the TV news at 20:00 on the SABC, there came these little fellas and they said 'South Africa, stop. Don't watch your news at 20:00 anymore, watch your news at 19:00. And we moved the whole nation."

"When we put our eNews at 19:00 so many years ago, everybody else put the news at 19:00. Do you know why they did that? Because we said 'Watch the news on e.tv at 19:00 because by 20:00 it's history' and they came along to join us at 19:00."

About digital terrestrial TV migration - the switch from analogue to digital TV in South Africa, Khalik Sherrif said "8 million South African TV households have already been migrated - 6.5 million on DStv and 1.5 million on Openview."

"South Africa has 14 million TV households which means that another 5.5 million TV households still need to be migrated."

"We had a meeting with the department of communications, saying 'We will help you to get to the other 5.5 million'. The department of communications will give R400 per household that can't afford to buy a set-top box (STB), and they will go out to the market, and they will buy a box."

"The department of communications has 500 000 more STB to sell and they're not manufacturing any more. They will buy a box and they will buy Openview. Why? Because for the first time in the South African landscape there is world-class television in high definition (HD), for free," said Khalik Sherrif.

"People in South Africa will buy a STB at any of the retailers for about R400 and will then have world-class television - 20 channels on Openview at the moment; all of the SABC - SABC1, SABC2, SABC3, and all of e.tv - and e.tv isn't just one channel any more."

"There is eMovies, there is eExtra, eReality, there's OpenNews, there's Star Life, there are plenty of them," said Khalik Sherrif, "with Openview growing at 30 000 to 35 000 box activations per month."

Openview: Transitioning from the outbuilding to the main house
"We started Openview on this premise: When the government was pushing digital television to us, the little fellas in Hyde Park realised the following - that we need to own some property in the TV space," said Khalik Sherrif.

"The SABC is the public broadcaster. MultiChoice has their property in Randburg which is the DStv decoder. What do we do? If MultiChoice is fed up of us one day and kicks us out, where do we take our channels? If we maybe don't like the [government-supplied] DTT [STB] performance because it's inferior and standard definition and not high definition, what do we do?"

"So we decided 5 years ago, let's launch our own little thing. We started it with OpenView HD, and now it's Openview.  Let me tell you, when we started it, we made some mistakes. We made some mistakes," said Khalik Sherrif.

"And the mistake we made is that we positioned it for the outbuilding. We didn't think about it really. People were buying it for the outside house. If it was not for the helpers, it was for granny. Today you are witnessing the transition of Openview from the outbuilding to the main house - that's where we belong," said Khalif Sherrif.

"Mark my words: Openview is going to be the biggest thing in South African television. Why do I so confidently say this? Because throughout the world, traditional pay-TV is declining. Free-to-air television viewing is increasing."

"If you visit the United Kingdom, you'll know that the most popular medium of receiving television is Freeview - not Sky, not BT. Freeview. Why is this so?"

"While a lot of people are lucky enough to be able to afford pay-TV, they're not watching it because they're watching Netflix. We're streaming this; we're getting Amazon Prime Video. So you're viewership of traditional pay-TV is declining and you're viewership of Netflix is increasing."

"And as that happens, people are coming to the realisation of 'What am I really paying them for? I'm not watching them anymore?' And when you seize to pay them, when you stop paying for television, you know what will happen? You won't throw away your TV set because your lounge suite has to face somewhere," said Khalik Sherrif.

"The TV set belongs in the lounge and when you stop paying for TV and your TV set is not receiving pay-TV anymore, your TV set will receive something else - it will receive Netflix, it will receive Amazon, it will receive Google. It will receive Apple. It will receive Facebook."

"But you will also need to know the local news, you will also need to catch up with the local TV soapies, you will also need to know the local gossip, so you will have Openview. Don't say to anybody I didn't tell you," Khalik Sherriff concluded.

REVIEW. The mistake-filled Nuusdag om 8 on Openview's eExtra channel doesn't offer viewers anything new but its existence helps broaden the local TV news bulletin business.

The mistake-filled Nuusdag om 8 Afrikaans TV news bulletin that e.tv started on Monday evening on eExtra (Openview 105 / DStv 195 / StarSat 489) didn't provide viewers with anything new or different that they're not already getting from one of the existing Afrikaans TV news bulletins on SABC2 or eNCA (DStv 403) but its existence is good and does help to broaden the South Africa TV news and media landscape.

After presumably several dry runs, Monday evening's first broadcast episode of Nuusdag om 8 was a mess of unnecessary and preventable mistakes, including spelling errors that never should (have) happened.

The mistakes damaged the credibility that Nuusdag om 8 wants to have or presumably tried to establish right out of the gate, and made Nuusdag om 8 look amateurish and like a watered-down, dubbed and voice-overed version of e.tv's eNews but one treated with less care.

The Nuusdag om 8 orange-amber-red-yellow toned studio design looks good (although the studio part used for the companion current affairs desk interview sister show following after, Nuusdag Perspektief, looks excellent and is a much better produced show).

"Echebrt Boezak" (Echbert) is by far the most experienced and best presenter who appeared in the show (he is also the TV news bulletin's news editor), while the actress and Mrs Africa Hemisphere, Lorna Greyling as weather presenter comes across as uncomfortable, awkward and ill-suited. She's not right for this type of TV work and is the worst on-air part of Nuusdag om 8.

Nuusdag om 8 spent the first 11 minutes of the TV news bulletin covering local news, then a sprinkling of international wire service footage with voice-overs, some more local stories, as well as weather and sport.

Nuusdag om 8 comes across as not having enough actual people and producers doing the show - with certainty it's clear that absolutely nobody is checking the Afrikaans syntax and spelling of the bottom-screen news scroll and names, or is incompetent or unqualified to do so.

In a Cape Town dam levels story with Suzaan Steyn doing voice-over work, the insert package halfway suddenly switched to English on Nuusdag om 8, revealing that it was originally done in English for eNews with badly done Afrikaans language soundtrack layering that wasn't properly checked by whoever, possibly nobody.

Both Rozanne McKenzie and Echbert Boezak as standing anchors made too many mistakes reading from their scripts and Lorna Greyling is out of her depth and comes across as someone who suddenly got nominated to speak publicly and do announcements at the local church bazaar or when a low-cost carrier flight is delayed but doesn't have the experience, confidence or skill.

Several of the stories had "vox pops" interviews (no problem with that) but then had no actual carry-through with no explanation or indication to the viewer of why the story matters, or what it really means - which is what a TV news bulletin at 20:00 at night should contain after people already consumed the basics of news and the headlines during the day.

It's fine to show angry Westbury protesters at 20:00 emoting on camera, but where's the agenda-setting "next chapter", the explainer, the contextual, expert add-on?

The sport section is good enough but the weather needs an overhaul and looks primary school class "let's do show-and-tell" bad.

The production values of Nuusdag om 8 suffer because of all of this, making it difficult to see the TV news bulletin's relevance or its reason for being.

Openview, e.tv and Nuusdag om 8 did nothing beforehand to tell TV critics or journalists covering TV why it's starting a TV news bulletin or the raison d'être, and it's difficult from merely watching to ascertain why this Afrikaans TV news bulletin is on, what it wants to achieve, why it's at 20:00 specifically and what it's trying to imbue in its content that's different.

Nuusdag om 8 that had a run-up to prepare for launch, had no "exclusive", no story of importance not featured anywhere else for the day, and no "get" or short interview to distinguish itself for its first episode that you'd think it would have worked on beforehand to showcase how it's setting itself apart.

The result is that it seemed the same as eNuus on kykNET and kykNET & kie and the Afrikaans nuus on SABC2, with no difference in its value proposition or the reason it offers as to why viewers should watch it and not one of the other competitors.

Openview's Nuusdag om 8 needs more people to ensure a more tighter, more professionally finished/furnished product, more staffers who have experience and can give proper attention to detail since this is a news product where accuracy and credibility matter, and more reporters doing stories with their own new/unique takes.

While the actual "insides" of Nuusdag om 8 need work, it's mere existence as a programme however adds to the media plurality of the Afrikaans TV news bulletin business in South Africa and is welcomed.

e.tv's eNews unveils the new grey-and-red set inside its revamped Hyde Park studio for its TV news bulletins.

e.tv's eNews bulletin on Monday night revealed the revamped set of its news studio from where it will continue to do its daily TV news bulletins inside its Hyde Park headquarters.

The news studio is housed in the same building as eMedia Investment's eNCA (DStv 403) TV news channel.

The eNews studio revamp follows the unveiling of eNCA's "white-wash walls" revamp in mid-July a month after eNCA's 10th birthday.

"Good evening, and welcome to our new eNews studios," said Sally Burdett, eNews anchor, as she opened Monday night's TV news bulletin on e.tv at 20:00.

e.tv issued no advisory or press release to the media ahead of time or afterwards about the studio revamp.

The new eNews studios with predominant grey and red tones and four wall monitors, is evocative of a sports show set and has one larger TV screen with a circular white base "bar table" with a transparent top, from where the main news is read by a standing news anchor.

The right hand side wall has a rectangular and segmented grid approach with red relief.

Two horizontal red lines criss-cross the right hand side wall and is reminiscent of the corridors of the set of the USS Enterprise 1701-D on the Paramount lot in Los Angeles whenever there was a red alert in the mid-1980's show Star Trek: The Next Generation.

MultiChoice claims 'eNews' is one of the most watched channels on DStv Now while no such channel exists; adds Discovery's set of channels to DStv Now from January.

MultiChoice claims that the 'eNews' channel is one of the most watched TV channels live streamed on its DStv Now service - despite the fact that no such channel exists.

MultiChoice's DStv Now service from its DStv Digital Media division announced that it also further expanded its over-the-top (OTT) channel collection in January 2018 that now includes Discovery Channel, TLC, Discovery Family and ID Investigation Discovery.

MultiChoice in a press release on Monday, said that the 'eNews' channel was one of the most watched channels on its DStv Now service during December 2017.

The problem is that eNews isn't a channel. MultiChoice most likely means either E! Entertainment (DStv 124) from NBCUniversal International Networks, or eNCA (DStv 403) from eMedia Investments that used to be known as the eNews Channel until it changed its name more than 5 and a half years ago in August 2012.

"E! News" does exists as the name of a daily show segment on E! Entertainment - it is that channel's daily TV news programme - but it is very unlikely that MultiChoice means that.

MultiChoice was asked what exactly it means by "eNews" and when there's a response this report will update with that. Update:  MultiChoice says the "eNews" is in fact eNCA.

Oddly, MultiChoice in its press release also refers to "kykNet" (it's actually kykNET).

"The top live channels streaming during this time were the SuperSport channels, M-Net, eNews, Mzansi Magic, kykNet, Comedy Central and M-Net Movies Smile," says MultiChoice in its statement about December 2017 viewing on DStv Now.

MultiChoice notes that the most watched shows on DStv Now during December 2017 were Binnelanders, The Queen, Isibaya, Boer Soek ‘n Vrou, The Imposter, Premier League, Lockdown, Paw Patrol, international rugby, Shameless, Isithembiso and Getroud met Rugby.

MultiChoice says usage of its DStv Now service increased by 18% in December 2017 over November 2017.

"Almost 20% of total usage of DStv Now is coming from DStv Compact customers, who received access to the service in May last year," says MultiChoice.

MultiChoice says the bulk of DStv Now usage over the festive period came from Android devices in the Gauteng province.

"Local content and channels, along with SuperSport, continue to be the top performers across all platforms."

MultiChoice says it added the set of channels from Discovery Networks International from January 2018 to DStv Now as live streamed channels. These include Discovery Channel (DStv 121), TLC (DStv 135), Discovery Family (DStv 136) and ID Investigation Discovery (DStv 171).

Interestingly ID Investigation Discovery used to be IDx on DStv. However, at some point after Investigation Discovery was changed to IDx (ID Xtra) in January 2016, it has quietly changed back to ID on MultiChoice's platform.

e.tv and eNCA dumps its daily Zulu TV news bulletin, iZindaba, on OpenView HD after just three and a half years as it continues to scale back its news offering.

e.tv and eNCA's eNews division has dumped its daily Zulu TV news bulletin, Izindaba, after just three and a half years as it continues to scale back on its news offering.

The daily half hour Zulu TV news bulletin, produced under eMedia Investments' eNCA news banner was broadcast on, and done for, the e.tv packaged eKasi+ channel on Platco Digital's free-to-air satellite offering, OpenView HD (OVHD).

eNews Izindaba was however quietly cancelled at the end of March when e.tv dumped the channel and replaced it with a new channel called e.tv Extra.

The loss of the Zulu prime time news bulletin is the latest cutback in eNCA's once lofty TV news ambitions under the tenure of eMedia Investments group chief operating officer (COO) Mark Rosin, with less appetite within the e.tv structure the past two and a half years for news content and a continued bigger focus and emphasis on providing entertainment programming.

e.tv that earlier this year lost an attempt to get out broadcasting a TV news bulletin during prime time on its commercial free-to-air terrestrial e.tv channel when the broadcasting regulator, Icasa, rejected its application, made no announcement about the abrupt cancellation of its Zulu TV news bulletin.

The eNews division still continues to supply a daily Afrikaans language TV news bulletin, eNuus, during prime time to M-Net kykNET (DStv 144) channel on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV service.

The demise of eNews Izindaba comes just three and a half years after it was launched in mid-2015 with big fanfare on eKasi+ when eNCA said its existence there will "provide viewers with more options in their own language". e.tv's however failed to get it to work with the half hour Zulu TV news bulletin that has proven to be a spectacular and expensive flop.

In March 2015 the Zulu bulletin was added to e.tv's early prime time line-up where it barely managed to pull more than 370 000 viewers and was cut just four months later and moved to eKasi+ where it managed to survive on life support until its quiet demise at the start of this month.

e.tv's axing of its half hour Zulu news bulletin on e.tv Extra leaves South African viewers once again with just one Zulu TV news bulletin done by the SABC and broadcast on the public broadcaster's SABC1 where it pulled in a large 4.3 million viewers (12.7 ARs, 38.1 share) during March.

In response to a media enquiry seeking comment about the cancellation of the prime time Zulu TV news bulletin, e.tv and eNCA says that "with the relaunch of eKasi+ as e.tv Extra and a focus on entertainment programming, eNews Izindaba stopped broadcasting at the end of March".

"With this re-focus, there is no longer a broadcast platform for eNews Izindaba. Zulu news does form part of e.tv's morning show Sunrise, broadcast weekdays from 5:30 to 8:30. The eNews division will continue to produce independent news of the highest editorial standards on eNCA, e.tv and eNCA.com".

eNCA reporter Phakamile Hlubi resigns; slams 'suffocating' e.tv and eNCA newsroom management in open letter over racism, lack of transformation, salary gaps.

The eNCA (DStv 403) and eNews reporter Phakamile Hlubi of draped snake fame has quit the eMedia Investments news operation, giving behind-the-scenes insight into alleged staffer intimidation at the news operation as she slammed the "suffocating" news room management culture at eNCA and e.tv over what she calls racism, a lack of transformation and unfair salary gaps.

In her letter Phakamile Hlubi details staff intimidation and how eNCA staffers have allegedly been working "in an atmosphere of fear and bullying".

Phakamile Hlubi who could have gone quietly or without saying anything about e.tv and eNCA, deliberately chose to publicly blast eMedia Investments' TV news division.

Anton Harber, eNCA's editor-in-chief, says in a statement "We are saddened that Phakamile Hlubi shoud say these things as she leaves the company".

"Her comments have been proved incorrect time and again. While we are far from perfect, we can say unequivocally that we are driving a policy of anti-racism, equity and transformation in an open and accountable atmosphere - and will continue to do so".

In an open letter to eNCA staffers as part of her goodbye, Phakamile Hlubi reveals that senior management and the board "refused to grant us the right to form an employee forum in May last year. They made it clear that any structure which was advocating for workers' rights on the premises was unwelcome."

Phakamile Hlubi writes that eventually "for the first time in the history of e Media, the company was forced to engage with the Communication Workers Union (CWU), as ordered by the CCMA. This was unheard of in the past. As you know, many previous generations of workers  had tried to do what we did, with dire consequences."

Describing the eNews and eNCA newsroom as "suffocating", Phakamile Hlubi says eNCA staffers "were forced to operate in an atmosphere of fear and bullying. Those who stood up for their rights were silenced through victimization, or attempts were made to frustrate them into quitting".

"The success of the Doek Campaign speaks volumes about how far we have come as employees. For the first time workers at eNCA were emboldened enough to take a public stand against the company's dress code policy."

Phakamile Hlubi writes that there's been a "shift in mentality" in the eNews and eNCA newsroom management but that "much more needs to be done".

"There is no justification for a company like e.tv, which was formed after apartheid, to be implementing policies which are a reflection of the past."

"The role of journalists is to expose corruption and to speak truth to power. If you are in the news business, then you have to accept that your employees will hold you accountable for the decisions you make. We cannot claim to be an 'independent' media house if the people who work here are punished for speaking out."

Phakamile Hlubi in her open letter slams e.tv, eNews and eNCA saying "we still have many problems at e.tv: The lack of transformation,  racism, unjustifiable salary discrepancies amongst people who do the same work are just some of the problems which must be addressed".

"Anton Harber's appointment as editor-in-chief has brought an air of openness and engagement which was non-existent previously. When he took the position Harber promised to be a 'champion for transformation', and he has spent countless hours engaging employees".

"I urge the employees to continue engaging. But it must translate to action and real changes in the way we operate."

"I urge you to take Anton Harber on. If there is anything you are unhappy with, raise it. If you find your cries fall on deaf ears, fight for change."

Phakamile Hlubi writes that eNews and eNCA staffers "are not alone in our struggle. The response we have received from the public, and from political parties are proof that you are not alone."

"And you will no longer have to fight alone. The lack of a credible organisation to fight for the rights of journalists, means that we must lean on each other, and support each other, especially those journalists and media workers of our competitor."

Phakamile Hlubi says "I leave e.tv with no bitterness, in my heart. I fought a good fight because the constitution was the bedrock upon which I based this battle. All I have ever wanted is for the employees at e.tv to be and feel free."

How e.tv's once lofty ideals to give South Africans TV news and an alternative, turned into an apparent exercise of hate and loathing.

Image from the commemorative book, e: The First 10 Years

The steady and continued dismantling and downsizing at e.tv and eNCA (DStv 403) of its news ideals and news brand is shocking and should be a great concern for South African television viewers who should not only demand, but deserve better.

With Marcel Golding and Bronwyn Keene-Young gone in the bloody palace coup at e.tv, the most important two people who stood in the breach to protect, fight for, and champion eNews, eNCA and e.tv's news division are now standing on the outside, looking in, as they watch their once esteemed news child systematically being reduced and diluted since the end of 2014.

Sabido, eMedia Investments and e.tv executives are now very clearly signaling that what they don't care for anymore is news. What they do care for, is the bottom-line - especially since e.tv is millions of rands behind and below revenue projections.

The easy scapegoat is its news product.

With e.tv that wants to dump its news bulletin outside of prime time, e.tv executives can't be any clearer about the "value" - or lack of any - it places on producing and broadcasting news, ironically in an election year.

E.tv's apparent disdain with which it now views the "onerous" burden of having to give its viewers news instead of more EFC, Anaconda movie schlock fare and Fanny by Gaslight reruns is now in the open.

The gutted eNCA (DStv 403) where the bloodletting is continuing unabated has been a ghost of its former glory for over a year now and counting.

eNCA closed all its foreign news bureaus, its lofty UK broadcasting plan is in tatters, and there's the massive ongoing exodus of highly prized, excellent and experienced on-air talent who keep leaving - both forced out the door and fired, as well as people on-screen and behind the camera who've simply quit because they've had enough.

eNCA's Africa dreams got grounded and ebbed away when it dumped its entire African division.

eNCA canned its African bulletin and magazine shows, cancelled the majority of its once carefully build-up current affairs shows and dramatically enlarged the repeats on its "24-hour" schedule where a lot of hours that were previously "live" are now rebroadcasts.

eNews, e.tv's original TV news bulletin, Frankenstein-ed into its shocking latest trash television iteration called eNews Direct that has lost any semblance to its former pedigree, including anchors, news values and format, is likewise a visual fossil record of how a once respected and trusted brand is seemingly deliberately being snuffed off.

When eNews Live at 7 started on e.tv at 19:00 on 17 January 1999 it was a breath of fresh air. e.tv did the news from its Longkloof Studios in Cape Town. It said it wanted to be different; to give another perspective. (What happened to that ideal?)

San Reddy didn't wear a tie. He and Jane Dutton leaned on tables instead of sitting behind anchor desks. And within 18 months, eNews became the English language evening news bulletin of preference.

Now e.tv doesn't want to to do that anymore and doesn't feel it has a responsibility - as required by its broadcasting licence - to provide a half hour news bulletin nightly in prime time to South African viewers.

e.tv has tinkered and steadily broken its eNews bulletin by moving it around and away from 19:00 - and now complaining that viewers fled. It's like deliberately erecting a jumping castle in the rain and then saying you won't do it again for future birthday parties because the children are mysteriously absent.

Something that e.tv had built up as an upstart the hard way, over almost 2 decades through the very hard work of a dedicated team - it's eNews brand - the new men of the e.tv empire is willing to simply spin-off and cast aside, instead of working harder to fix what wasn't broken and to restore it to what it was and can still, and again, be.

It's easy to forget, or not to know, how drastically e.tv already destroyed the news offering it used to have.

For perspective: e.tv used to have the eNews Early Edition, eNews Prime Time at 19:00 and then eNews Late Edition. Both the early eNews Early Edition and the eNews Late Edition got cancelled with nothing in its place.

The news was pushed from 19:00 where it did very well, and damaged and damaged some more, to get to the lobotomised hybrid-madness of the current eNews Direct.

With eNews - or more precisely "eNews Direct" shunted out of e.tv's prime time, it would literally mean that tens of millions of viewers will only have access once again to the SABC's SABC News broadcasts in prime time.

It would also signal that ordinary South Africans are not "allowed", "good enough" or "deserve" commercially produced free-to-air TV news.

It would mean that only South Africans who can pay for TV news other than the news from the public broadcaster, can get access to it through pay-TV like on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform.

That is very wrong - and an abhorrent signal to send, especially from a TV broadcaster who got its broadcasting licence in the first place by saying it will target and service the rising black middle class in South Africa.

One wonders what journalism's Prof. Anton Harber, now the editor-in-chief of eNCA, thinks of this.
UPDATE Thursday 14 April 2016 - I heard directly from Prof. Anton Harber who wrote to me, and asked that I please publish his letter. He says my suggestion that this is e.tv dumping its news, is misleading.
"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." Please read his entire letter here.



If e.tv gets to dump its main news bulletin from its prime time line-up, it would be a massive step for what it audience and what e.tv's audience deserves, for South Africa, and for the local news and TV news industry.

TV news in prime time means prominence. It means it matters. It's agenda setting. Besides just what it communicates, it also says to viewers that the news and it being there, matters to all of our daily lives as citizens in a democratic society.

Viewers can't just watch WWE wrestling and The Young and the Restless. Viewers also need to be informed.

e.tv now wants to tart up its already empty carbo laced schedule further with (more) vapid eye-ball grabbing entertainment and advertiser-funded production TV trash.

e.tv is like an irresponsible parent whose kids already eat Happy Meals seven days a week, now saying: "It's okay, you don't need to eat the slice of apple. In fact, I will replace it daily with a box of Astro's although more unhealthy - because its less effort, easier and above all, so much cheaper".

Responsible parents know that part of being adult and mature means that the popular choice is not always the right decision; that part of being grown-up means making difficult decisions to do what is better and right, although its harder.

e.tv surely knows that wanting to dump its news out of prime time is irresponsible and a "bad" thing for its image and for South Africa.

Yet, because on paper the numbers and savings, and the revenue it could potentially earn from more Gold Diggers instead of eNews Direct, makes "good" business, it's willing to sacrifice what it should be doing, for what it wants to be doing for the sake of more money.

Even a public commercial TV broadcaster like e.tv that's a business instead of a public broadcaster like the SABC still has a level of civic duty, a type of social responsibility towards its viewers.

Even more Astro's to replace the already small slice of apple on its prime time plate, is definitely not the diet change that e.tv, nor South Africa, needs.

BREAKING. e.tv wants to dump all news from prime time; blames having to show viewers news as not generating revenue, warns news will threaten its future.

e.tv, South Africa's only free-to-air commercial TV broadcaster wants to dump news in prime time to make more money from more popular commercial fare like prime time soaps and is now asking the broadcasting regulator for permission to move its once number one rated TV news bulletin out of prime time.

e.tv now blames having to do news for the public as not being a revenue generator and warns that having to give South Africans a half hour of news during prime time might threaten its future as a broadcaster and cause "serious revenue challenges".

The shocking move will mean that the majority of the millions of South African TV viewers will be left with only the TV news supplied by the public broadcaster's SABC News division.

e.tv's eNews Prime Time news bulletin was for many years the number one rated and most watched TV news bulletin on South African television until e.tv started tinkering and moving the bulletin and tweaking the format in favour of its commercial soaps like Rhythm City and other content.

Its latest couple of moves over the past year, resulting in the latest, recently introduced eNews Direct, has had an ongoing negative impact on e.tv's ratings during prime time.

e.tv now wants to get rid of news during prime time although its broadcasting licence conditions demands that at least 30 minutes of news must be broadcast as a single programme per day and broadcast during prime time.

Besides the 30 minutes of news in prime time, e.tv has to broadcast at least 2 hours of news programming per day.

If approved, the shocking move will mean no more news for e.tv's 17 million daily viewers during the time period when most South Africans watch television.

e.tv says broadcasting news to South African viewers during prime time suddenly "no longer makes sense now" although the majority of South African viewers still depend on this news, although eMedia Investments also runs the eNCA (DStv 403) as a TV news channel but for pay-TV viewers on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform.

Over the past year eNCA has itself dramatically scaled back its news ambitions, shedding on-air talent and staff behind the scenes as it cancelled current affairs programming, closed all foreign news bureaus and got rid of its entire African reporting corps.

"The idea of relying on a single prime time bulletin has inveitably become antiquated and e.tv needs to be able to take this into account with regard to its overall programming scheduling," says Mark Rosin, eMedia Investments' group chief operating officer (COO).

"We have a long history of broadcasting quality news on e.tv and while the prime time condition may have catered to our audience's needs in 1998 when we first launched the service, it no longer makes sense now".

Although he wants to take news away during prime time on e.tv, Mark Rosin says "e.tv remains committed to delivering a quality independent news service and broadcasting local content that is in the public's interest".

e.tv says English news bulletins in prime time have seen a rapid decline in ratings across all free-to air channels over the last few years but the channel fails to mention that ongoing erratic timeslot and format changes are to blame for viewers fleeing e.tv and SABC3's flagship bulletins.

"We have seen our English prime time news audience decline rapidly, despite numerous attempts to retool the bulletin. And we are not alone - our competitors have experienced the same thing."

"As a commercial broadcaster generating most of its revenue in prime time, this presents serious revenue challenges, which ultimately lead to commercial viability challenges," says Mark Rosin.

e.tv says if its allowed to dump TV news outside of prime time, the channel will be able to programme and schedule commercially popular viewing "that has a significantly greater audience demand and curb current revenue losses".

e.tv's eNews division dumps eNews Prime Time; relaunches early evening news bulletin as eNews Direct with Dudu Ramela.

South Africa'as only free-to-air commercial TV channel e.tv is dumping its eNews Prime Time new bulletin halfway in January, relaunching it Monday 18 January at 18:30 as eNews Direct with anchor Dudu Ramela who will literally walk and talk viewers through the "trending" news stories of the day.

In February last year Pat Pillai left eNews Prime Time. In March e.tv and eNews added its half hour Zulu TV news bulletin from the eKasi+ channel on OpenView HD, eNews Izindaba at 18:30 and moved its primetime news bulletin to 20:30.

The move turned out to be a big failure for both timeslots and both news programmes which suffered in the ratings and dragged down e.tv viewership.

In mid-June eNews reversed course, dumped the Zulu news and moved the English bulletin that failed to attract viewers at 20:30 back to 18:30.

E.tv said market research afterwards showed that viewers want to see the main English bulletin earlier.

After struggling to lift news ratings, e.tv's latest news bulletin tinkering involves relaunching and rebranding its primetime news bulletin to eNews Direct from tonight.

On weekends eNews Prime Time is also changing to eNews Direct Weekend at 19:00.

Monde Twala, managing director of e.tv channels, says its prime time news bulletin's look and content must change its format and delivery in response to changing trends due to how South Africans have changed the way in which they consume news and information.

"eNews Direct is more for the on-the-go experiential viewer as it brings features that are trending and it is engaging with the viewer," says Monde Twala.

eNews Direct is described as a "distinct and innovate new bulletin" that will "deliver robust and contextually relevant news content in an unbiased manner", "news [that] is fast-paced, forthright and engaging, with news reports and news stories that are suitable for the modern-day busy and connected viewer".

eNews Direct will cover the key stories of the day as well as economic, sports and entertainment news, as well as weather.

Worried eNews insiders said the latest move is yet another indication of how e.tv is scaling back news output and the anchoring of news from Cape Town and out of e.tv's new Cape Town headquarters and studio.

e.tv in response to a media enquiry told TV with Thinus "it isn't true that news are no longer done and anchored in Cape Town and there hasn't been any downscaling".


Editor's note: This story was updated 4 hours later to correct the first sentence. It first started "relaunched tonight at 18:30 as eNews Direct" but has been changed to Monday 18 January at 18:30 as eNews Direct. The mistake in mentioning the wrong date was my editorial error.

BREAKING. eNews anchor Pat Pillai dumps eNews as e.tv moves its English TV news bulletin out of primetime to a late night audience.

The longtime eNews Prime Time anchor Pat Pillai has dumped eNews as e.tv is moving its popular English language out of prime time to make way for a new Zulu TV news bulletin and moving its English news broadcast to a late night audience.

e.tv confirmed that Pat Pillai has resigned after a decade at e.tv. Pat Pillai in a statement says "I will miss the people I've worked with and the viewers who tuned in regularly."

Pat Pillai will read his final eNews bulletin on e.tv on Thursday 26 February at 19:00.

From Monday 2 March the eNews Prime Time news bulletin - what used to be South Africa's most watched English language TV news bulletin - is moved an hour and a half later to 20:30 to make way for eNews Izindaba at 18:30 and the soap Rhythm City moving to 19:00.

e.tv says the later English news will now "cater for a later evening news audience".

With its prime time schedule shift e.tv is aggressively going after SABC viewers and Zulu TV news viewers not getting what they want to see from the public broadcaster.

Pat Pillai now wants to "focus more on his youth development work at Life College, an organisation he founded in 1997".

"Pat Pillai has played an enormous role at eNews over the past 10 years," says Patrick Conroy, who is now the managing director of e.sat.

"He has helped us turn our nightly newscast into the most watched English news bulletin in the country," says Patrick Controy, saying Pat Pillai "remains a close friend of all of us at eNews".

BREAKING. Khanye West trashes E! Entertainment after the Grammy Awards, force E! reporters to remove E! logo from their microphones.

Artist Kanye West went on a rant against E! Entertainment (DStv 124) on Sunday night, dissing E! Entertainment on E! about being distasteful and forced E!'s red carpet reporters to remove the E! logo from their mics after the 57th Grammy Awards.

Kanye West, married to Kim Kardashian, star of the Keeping Up with the Kardashians reality show on E! Entertainment, appeared on the entertainment news and reality TV channel after the conclusion of the 2015 Grammy Awards and scolded E! Entertainment for their branded E! mics during its E! After Party Grammy Awards coverage.

"Who designed these mics? I took the E! off my mic. Okay, we know, it's gonna be E! already! It's gonna be E! at the bottom of the screen right here," Kanye West said motioning to the camera.

"We need to step up the taste level across the board on all networks," he said as he slammed E! Entertainment.

At the Grammy Awards afterparty Kanye West forced E! Entertainment's eNews presenter Terrence Jenkins, as well as Christina Milian, Zanna Roberts Rassi and even Kloe Kardashian to remove the E! logo from their mics.

"Take these off! Take these off right now!" screamed Kanye West.

Terrence Jenkins initially didn't want to but then sheepishly relented. "E! cuts my cheque, let me keep mine, let me keep mine," the eNews reporter said before removing his mic's E! logo.

"They need you! Y'all are the personalities! E! needs y'all! The Kardashians have a percentage of E! That's what I'm saying, they need y'all!" said Kanye West.

eNews staffing up for the dramatic introduction of a new daily, primetime Zulu TV news bulletin on e.tv at 19:00 to take on SABC News.

You're reading it here first. 

e.tv's eNews division is gearing up - and dramatically staffing up - to start a Zulu TV news bulletin soon to take on the SABC, according to sources.

e.tv's eNews plans to challenge the public broadcaster head-on in a new fight for Zulu TV news viewers - shifting the existing English language eNews Prime Time TV news bulletin currently at 19:00 to a later timeslot.

The new Zulu TV news bulletin would anchor a new schedule designed to aggressively court viewers away from the SABC, in conjunction with the new e.tv telenovela which will start within months at 20:00 on e.tv, directly opposite SABC1's damaged and floundering reversioned Generations - The Legacy.

e.tv's English language eNews Prime Time TV news bulletin has already been leading the ratings race for years, as the most watched, most popular English language TV news bulletin in South Africa as more and more viewers abandoned the SABC and the public broadcaster's flagship TV news bulletin on SABC3 which has undergone a dramatic loss of viewers over the past five years.

Now e.tv wants to try and duplicate that success with Zulu, after it has been supplying the daily Afrikaans language TV news, eNuus, to M-Net and DStv's kykNET (DStv 144) TV channel the past few years with great success.

While e.tv has done "snippets" of vernacular TV news, it has predominantly been confined to e.tv's early morning timeslots like its breakfast offering Sunrise.

The new Zulu TV news bulletin will be a full, and fully staffed, half hour and daily Zulu news bulletin in an attempt to give viewers more, and better Zulu TV news coverage than what they're getting on the SABC.

Insiders first talked about the plans for a Zulu TV bulletin on e.tv in late November 2014. According to eNews sources e.tv's English news bulletin eNews Prime Time will be shifted away from 19:00 to a later timeslot within months with a Zulu bulletin taking its place at 19:00.

Interestingly, reporters at eNCA (DStv 403) - eNews' 24-hour, English language TV news channel - are concerned about the move. A lot of the/their stories done for eNCA are shown and "simulcast" in English on e.tv in eNews Prime Time, and eNCA reporters are quietly worried that the "replacement" and shift of the existing eNews Prime Time bulletin is going to mean less exposure of their stories and less work.

Meanwhile eNews and eNCA has gone on an extremely aggressive hiring spree of specifically Zulu speaking people, indicative of the staffing up to prepare for a Zulu news broadcast. 

The news division started looking for Zulu speaking journalists and news production personnel to swell its ranks since the end of 2014 - the most ever job advertisements for Zulu speaking journalists in the history of eNews and eNCA.

Asked by TV with Thinus to confirm that the eNews Prime Time bulletin on e.tv is moving away from 19:00 to be replaced by a new Zulu TV bulletin soon, and why the change is being made, e.tv responded to a media enquiry but was unwilling to confirm or deny the news, only saying "the South African television industry is dynamic and always changing".

"As a free-to-air channel that reaches millions of South Africans, it's also important that we keep up with what our diverse audiences want to watch on television," says e.tv. "News is also critical to e.tv's offering, and so is language."

"e.tv is looking at its programme schedule for the second quarter of 2015, but no firm decisions have yet been made. The channel will announce once a decision is made".

BREAKING. Sabido, e.tv admit problems with the processes of eNCA's eyebrow-raising infrastructure documentary series.

Sabido the parent company of broadcaster e.tv and the independent 24-hour TV news channel eNCA (DStv 403) on MultiChoice's DStv is now admitting that there were problems with the processes of, and that "lines blurred", with the South Africa infrastructure documentary series shown on eNCA earlier this year.

Although the documentary series is not an "infomercial" and the government paid for separate TV commercials on eNCA, the department of economic development has been using the documentaries as commercials, clearly being very happy and of the opinion that it reflects very well on the government's infrastructure development initiatives.

Sabido, e.tv and eNCA are mired in scandal the past two weeks, with huge brand and reputational damage which has been inflicted following a bitter management meltdown behind the scenes.

It saw both its CEO Marcel Golding and then its COO Bronwyn Keene-Young abruptly quit last week amidst shocking allegations of  government and corporate interference in the eNews and eNCA news divisions.

Emails and court documents laid bare how badly e.tv's eNews and eNCA had been allegedly compromised in terms of news integrity, credibility and brand reputation.

That happened due to alleged pressure on the broadcaster to do legitimate news coverage on the one hand, and on the other hand to do positive government news coverage as a result of corporate lobbying efforts to get the South African government to side with e.tv on the issue of set-top box (STB) control and e.tv favouring an encryption system for digital terrestrial television (DTT).

In a statement today - following an earlier statement when Sabido's chief operating officer (COO) Mark Rosin didn't answer specific questions put to Sabido over the documentary series specifically - Mark Rosin now admits that "there were problems which should have been foreseen" with the documentary series and that Sabido, e.tv and eNCA are "reviewing the process internally and what transpired".

It's now clear that the South African government did pay money to eNCA for TV adverts which ran on eNCA - commercials that ran separately from the documentary series.

What is not clear is whether the documentaries series would have been commissioned, would have been broadcast, and would have existed at all if the government didn't pay for adverts or didn't take a commercial ad campaign on eNCA.

Questions about this, specifically made to Sabido last week in a media enquiry, remain unanswered.

It creates a murky situation where, whether real or perceived, viewers and media experts no longer know for sure, in terms of the eNCA editorial content, what came first: the chicken or the egg as far as this documentary series is concerned.

Mark Rosin, in today's statement, says "lines appear to have been blurred between an undertaking to report on infrastructure development in South Africa and a commitment by [the department of] economic development to spend advertising on the channel".

"The perception that the news was paid for is deeply regrettable and we wish to assure our audiences that eNews remains an impartial and independent news outlet," says Mark Rosin.

Patrick Conroy, managing director of news at e.tv and eNCA says "the news division should have been more directly involved in the discussions at the time".

Although the government paid for commercials on eNCA - and it being unclear whether the documentary series would have made it to broadcast if the government didn't advertise on the channel as well - Patrick Conroy now says that "boundaries of editorial control were not clear" but that "at no point did our editors surrender control".

Today's statement now also signals that eNCA executives knew there were problems with the documentary series before problems with it were revealed, as collateral damage, by Marcel Golding in his court documents two weeks ago to try and prevent his suspension.

Patrick Conroy, using past tense in the today's statement says that "news management agreed afterwards that in future clearer rules and policies were needed to avoid confusion between commercial messages and editorial ones".

Patrick Conroy says that "as a result of the issues we have not entered into any similar agreements subsequently. It was open to misinterpretation and could be confused with advertorial content. Work on clearer policies and guidelines began once these issues were raised".

Patrick Conroy says: "Viewers should at all times be comforted in the knowledge of the fact that what they're watching is independently produced by our news division. Where necessary, disclosures should be included to reinforce this."


Correction 17:43 : This story was changed, amended and updated from a first posted version at 14:33 to more accurately reflect the issue. The first version of this article stated that the government paid for the documentary series on eNCA. The government paid for separate TV commercials, on the eNCA channel. - Ed.

BREAKING. Suspended e.tv boss Marcel Golding alleges government political interference in eNews and eNCA news coverage.

The suspended e.tv boss Marcel Golding says his suspension is the result of government political interference in news coverage on e.tv's eNews and eNCA (DStv 403).

Marcel Golding alleges in filed court papers to block his shocking suspension which took place this week, that his suspension is partially the result of behind-the-scenes corporate and political infighting in which Hosken Consolidated Investment's TV channel e.tv and its news division eNews and 24-TV news channel eNCA were pressured to cover positive ANC news.

The political pressure for certain news coverage allegedly followed after e.tv's lobbying process of the government to take e.tv's side of the ongoing, and unresolved, battle over set-top box (STB) control for decoders when South Africa eventually switches from analogue to digital terrestrial broadcasting (DTT).

In an affidavit lodged with the Cape Town Labourt Court, Marcel Golding details how he was "forced out" due to the trade union SACTWU who first sidelined his wife, Bronwyn-Keene-Young who is e.tv's chief  operating officer (COO), when she allegedly resisted and rebuked a direct instruction to do political news coverage from an ANC minister.

The pressure allegedly comes from HCI director Yunis Shaik, the brother of Schabir Shaik.

Marcel Golding alleges that a technical transaction with Ellies is now being used to try and force him out. He says the disciplinary hearing "has been launched after months of attempts to get me to relinquish the chair of the board of HCI and resign as CEO of e.tv and Sabido as a result of my refusal to permit e.tv to be used for political purposes by a trade union that is invested in the group".

In his affidavit Marcel Golding alleges that "SACTWU has persistently attempted to influence the editorial direction of eNews in order to further its agenda".

"On 24 March 2014 Yunis Shaik addressed an email to Bronwyn Keene-Young stating that the minister of economic development Ebrahim Patel had called him and asked that a supplied news feed of president Jacob Zuma opening a dam be aired on the e.tv evening news. It should be noted that this request was made four days after the Public Protector's report into Nkandla was made public."

"Bronwyn Keene-Young and I were at a conference and unavailable to respond. Shaik therefore, after receiving another call from minister Patel assumed the responsibility to liaise with Patrick Conroy, the managing director of eNCA."

"On 24 March Bronwyn Keene-Young replied to Shaik's email and explained the inappropriateness of Shaik's conduct to him in the context of news integrity and appealed to him to never make this kind of request directly to our managers," says Marcel Golding.

On 29 April 2014 Marcel Golding says in his affidavit that Shaik contacted Bronwyn Keene-Young again, again over a debate due to be held between Ebrahim Patel and the opposition party at the University of the Witwatersrand.

"Patel asked that a clip of an earlier Reserve Bank meeting be aired during the debate. The clip would be supplied and Patel evidently believed it showed the opposition party was incorrect in certain statements it had made regarding the Reserve Bank."

"On 19 May 2014 I received another text message from Shaik. This time it was about the possible mention of another HCI affiliate, Tsogo Sun: 'Maggs on Media. He will feature a story on gabmling addiction. See the story before he airs it. Watch the visuals. It would be terrible if he features Tsogo. Check to see if it is balanced and includes activities we take for responsible gambling."

Marcel Golding states in his affidavit that on 14 August 2014 he was sent the following SMS by Andre Kriel of SACTWU: "Will call you tomorrow. Violet Seboni Memorial lecture will be on 25 August in Johannesburg. Minister Patel will deliver the lecture. We require e.tv to cover it live. Please arrange."

"I was also threatened that should I not resign I would be suspended and disciplined on account of my purchase of Ellies shares - the subject matter of the impending disciplinary hearing."

"I believed Ellies was strategically sound to invest in. I saw such an investment as a strategic investment for one of our key Sabido subsidiaries which is struggling to meet its targets [Platco Digital's OpenView HD]."

"The subsidiary is a free-to-air satellite platform which is dependent on the distribution - by Ellies - of set-top boxes [STBs]."

Marcel Golding in his affidavit says that his understanding is that "SACTWU [wants] to exert greater control over news content at e.tv and eNCA by ensuring a CEO less independent than me assumes control over Sabido," and that he believes that it "is directly related to the pursuance of an agenda to exert greater control over news content aired by e.tv and its related broadcasters."

"In opposing the attempts to manipulate news content I have been acting to protect the rights of editorial staff to run an independent news service," says Marcel Golding's affidavit.

'Being bulletin editor was like being on a roller coaster'. Mark Verbaan details the insanity when e.tv started its TV news division in new book.

"The chest pains were becoming more frequent and I would have to leave my desk to go and lie flat on my back in the rear of the building until they passed".

So writes Mark Verbaan - very revealingly - in his new book, The Memoirs of Ben Trovato.

In his new book, he details with interesting insight the understaffed, overworked and exhausting start of the South African broadcaster e.tv's eNews division and its first foray into doing daily television news.

e.tv started its first TV news bulletin service on 17 January 1999, with San Reddy (pictured) and Jane Dutton as the news anchors, who did the news bulletin from e.tv's studios in Cape Town.

Mark Verbaan was bulletin editor at the time and writes in The Memoirs of Ben Trovato, out now, also about how eNews was set up under exhaustive conditions and "how there wasn't even a proper newsroom".

e.tv and eNews staff were hired and brought in, had no permanent accomodation and e.tv paid for hotel accomodation.

"Builders were still tearing the guts out of the place when we went on air for the first time. There was also no equipment when I arrived. Neither was their enough staff".

"Six months in I couldn't take it anymore," writes Mark Verbaan. "I was working 12 hours a day, seven days a week, to get the bulletin on air. The responsibility, let alone the pressure, was savage."

"Badly written stories were rewritten by me. Snappy intros were written by me. I wrote the foreign stories. I decided what was in, what was out. The pressure doubled when the 7pm bulletin went from 30 minutes to an hour".

"I need help," I said, clutching my heart. The chest pains were becoming more frequent and I would have to leave my desk to go and lie flat on my back in the rear of the building until they passed."

"Being bulletin editor was like being on a roller coaster, only a lot more extreme," writes Mark Verbaan.

He details in The Memoirs of Ben Trovato, published by Macmillan, how "reporters begged me for more time for their stories. The edit suited jammed up. People were in tears. Scenes of indescribable panic unfolded around me. I had to keep my finger on half a dozen things simultaneously".

"Tapes would be thrown from the edit suite to someone who dropped them over the balcony to be caught by someone else and rushed into the galley."

"The only way this can carry on," I told anyone who would listen, "is if another one of me is appointed"...

Mark Verbaan goes on to share eye-popping details of his time working at e.tv and the start of e.tv's television news which makes The Memoirs of Ben Trovato fun to read for anyone who's ever worked in television or TV news:

"my entire head reeked of sex and alcohol",

"A couple of senior staff members were outraged..."

"If you mention television to an attractive young woman in Cape Town, you're almost certainly guaranteed her undivided attention".

TV with Thinus asked e.tv whether the South African TV broadcaster has any comment or statement regarding the things said about e.tv and its eNews beginnings in the new book.

e.tv says that it's a memoir piece about the difficult times of a start-up newsroom and that e.tv doesn't have any comment.

eNuus on kykNET turns 3 years old on 18 July as Jenna-Leigh February; Eduan Roos, Gustav Greyling join eNuus on-air team.

Jenna-Leigh February, Eduan Roos and Gustav Greyling have joined eNuus, the Afrikaans news bulletin on kykNET (DStv 144) and kykNET & Kie (DStv 145) supplied by e.tv's 24-hour news operation eNCA.

eNuus is turning three years old on 18 July. The eNCA says eNuus is one of its best performing units, and calls the contribution from eNuus to eNCA and eNCA.com "invaluable".

The eNCA renewed the contract with kykNET in August 2012 to keep supplying eNuus to the Afrikaans channel group.

Jenna-Leigh February who left the SABC in June and Gustav Greyling who've worked for eNuus on a freelance basis are news readers, and Eduan Roos is responsible for sports news reporting. They replace Genee Heyl as news reader and Francois Nolte as sports news reader who've both left eNuus.

Percivale Young and Gerhard Pretorius also joined eNuus recently.

"With eNuus' birthday around the corner and with a news reader and sports news reader who've left us, it was the ideal opportunity to introduce new faces to our viewers," says Andries Cornelissen, the news editor of eNuus.

"I'm looking forward to work with Freek Robinson and to learn from him," says Jenna-Leigh February who've read her first news bulletin with Freek Robinson on 19 June.

"It's an undisputable career highlight to join eNuus' team and to learn from the expertise and experience of Andries Cornellisen and his team," says Eduan Roos.

"At eNuus its firstly about a good news product with Afrikaans as the platform used to reach the audience," says Gustav Greyling.