eNCA's shoddy primetime report on Senzo Meyiwa's murder

Written by Tashi from the blog Tashi's TV on 28 Oct 2014
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Last night I caught eNCA's primetime report on Bafana captain Senzo Meyiwa's murder and found it very irritating because the report failed to contextualise events and included a random guest who got more airtime than the story!

The report was on News Night after 20h00 and it had gaping holes in it, specifically it didn't give any details of what actually happened to Senzo. It said he was shot and that was it - nothing about the fact that it was a burglary nor the circumstances surrounding it. The rest of the report assumed that viewers had watched other news reports earlier or elsewhere and knew the details of what had happened.

No matter how big a story is, it must be contextualised for viewers - a news bulletin can never assume everyone knows the details. All it takes is one or two sentences to explain what happened and put things in context but eNCA often doesn't do this. If they're covering a story from a particular angle they'll often leave out the context, making sweeping assumptions that viewers have watched a previous bulletin about the story or already know the facts.

The report on Senzo was further undermined by the fact that they had a text headline that the shooting happened at Kelly Khumalo's house but they didn't mention anything about her in the report - which is what I wanted to hear more about.

They didn't put her in context in relation to the story at all and there was no mention of the fact that she was his mistress. There wasn't a mention of how she was attacked on Twitter yesterday either. It's all part of the story and context but there wasn't a word about any of it. All we got was an interview with some guy from the gun owners' association who went on and on and on.

I couldn't believe they gave him a primetime spot like that - it was the primetime news of the day and it was such important, national news yet so much attention was given to a guest who wasn't even connected to the story properly. That's when I tuned out because I could tell he wasn't going to shed any proper light on the situation.

Channels in this post: eNCA

4 Comments

Mrs Chix
28 Oct 2014 13:34

Yoh Tashi, for me I honestly think it was a hit. Sorry Mandisa, but you are my number 1 suspect.

makisto
28 Oct 2014 15:28

This is very sad Tashi. eNCA should know better yazi. Indeed, they must never assume for us even if they do, they must still put everything in context

In fact, this story is poorly covered by the media. They are reporting from Kelly's house in Vosloo and I get that becaus it is the scene of the crime. However, his wife has never been spoken to or at least people who are close to her if she is too distraught to talk to news people. But ke, the media is navigating towards Kelly Khumalo in this story because she is a controversial star.

Be that as it may, a story should still be balance and there needs to balance and care

shero
28 Oct 2014 16:36

behind every man's fall there is a woman,sorry to say this but ,this story is nt adding up

Mrs Chix
29 Oct 2014 09:45

I read somewhere tha Kelly is not welcome to the funeral. I think that is not fair and that is disrepect to their dead son. Yes he might have been married to Mandisa but in his last days he choose Kelly. I dont know if she was going to a second wife but he chose her! To hell with culture, Kelly has a baby with Senzo, so that child will never know where his father is buried?? I hope 2 years down the line they wont coming claiming that child. NXAAA I am disgusted.