Moses Serugo (The Daily Monitor, 1st July 2007)
A cross-section of the television fraternity is convinced I run the Uganda Potato Growers blog. I wish I had the patience to sit through a blooper-ridden newscast like whoever posts updates on www.ugandapotatogrowers.blogspot.com does. I have received pleas from the reporters of a certain station begging me to go easy on them because they are one-person crews who film their own footage, edit, write and voice scripts. That to them is a Herculean effort but not everyone is privy to such insider information.
When a viewer puts everything else on hold to catch the evening news, I would like to think they want a polished package where the diction, intonation and grammar are right.
It would benefit reporters to know that punctuation is as essential in speech as it is in prose. So please pay attention to commas and full stops lest your reports sound like you've been running the marathon.
The same blogger says Tina Wamala is "ripe for plucking away from Record TV" and that her every performance simply says 'come and get me'. I couldn't agree more. I have been caught up in Tina's charm before as a guest on her Day Breaker show and although the interview didn't go as coherently as it should have, I admired her presence.
WBS's Barbara Yata gets a thrashing from the same blogger who says the Showtime Magazine host is in need of a makeover. "Put on some flesh, girl," the blogger says. I think it is her show that is more in need of the makeover.Showtime Magazine has "lost the plot" eight years after the feisty and eloquent Tilly Muwonge turned it into Thursday night must-watch viewing. The show's success back then also had everything to do with her team with Timothy Bukumunhe as producer and Chris Eritu's imaginative camera work. WBS TV's Head of Productions, Osbert Karuhanga should know since he was there at the time.
Bart Kakooza is back with The Focal Point [WBS TV, Sundays 7p.m.], a show that is grappling with an identity crisis. Last week's edition featured a teary lad that was molested by a gay pastor. Kakooza was in a minefield here, trying hard to hide the victim's eyes and blipping the Pastor's name every time the lad came close to revealing the erring pastor's name.
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At the end of the weepy 30 minutes, it felt like being led on a wild-goose chase. I would have preferred something more revolutionary like the Media Plus newscasts he used to compile and sell to LTV and the defunct Madhvani-owned Channel TV. Not only did the news show yield able newscasters like Ann Kiiza, Tina Byaruhanga and Rachel Mugarura. Its content spread beyond Kampala thanks to Media Plus' network of regional correspondents. I remember the DR Congo report where journalist Max Sherura was caught in the crossfire of warring Congolese rebels. Kakooza may in hindsight want to consider showing this new generation of wet-behind-the-ears TV personalities the ropes.
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