LEADING THE WAY

CNMG's Campaign 41 is still leading the pack with its elections coverage. Live pictures from the PNM's political meeting in Mayaro, as well as a sound bite from the Prime Minister and several live interviews with Curtis Williams. Kudos. You also had phone interviews with Golda Lee and Hema Ramkissoon, all centered on the allegations by COP candidate Gary Griffith. Where is your competition? And your question to the public tonight was very relevant: on the result of the Selwyn Ryan poll.

IETV and CNC 3 led with the death of the young boy who tried to save his goat. Actually this was a good lead because it is human interest and the death of a child is always headline news.
TV6 your lead story and People Meter question were questionable. The lead was the PTSC bus drivers' protest and you asked your viewers to say whether they agreed with the protest action. What was the justification for the lead?

IETV do you also have staffing problems? Melissa Williams, Giselle McIntyre and Nadine Hackett, as well as the young lady who reads the news seem to be working themselves to the bone. They are the only voices we hear besides Mr Morais on occasion. Nadine's piece on the San Juan Barataria constituency was not bad, but your stand up was very stiff. Fayola Bostik's (TV6 Extra) report on the two brothers contesting that same seat for opposing parties was a winner. Fayola take a bow. It was well written, you used interesting sound bites, and it did not drag on and on. The sound bite with the cousins agreeing to disagree with dignity was well chosen.

Curtis Williams you seemed rather nervous during your live report, and this translated to poor pronunciation: "thru" instead of through and Franklin "Kyan" for Khan.

Shabaka Kambon, your colleague Fabian Pierre should have warned you that too much intonation is just annoying and distracting to the viewer. You see-sawed through that entire Gary Griffith report. And at the end of your story on Winston Dookeran you committed a no-no; you wrote the obvious on the fact that COP supporters danced around and hugged the political leader. We saw it. There must have been a more creative way to end your story.
Neil Beekhee over at CNC 3 did a much better job with his story on La Brea. He stood with the Pitch Lake in the background and referred to the fact that Sir Walter Raleigh made history by using this country's pitch, then he linked that history to today, where the people of the area can once again make history with their vote in the election.
A word of advice though Neil, try not to turn your back to the camera when you want to point to your subject, and when you are interviewing people, you need to get to their eye level. The man playing cards had to look up at you, which is a no-no.

Samantha kudos to you for FINALLY giving your audience a transition from one story idea to the next, when you said "Moving away from politics..." when you transitioned from the UNC story to the fire officers.

Miss Ramdhanie, Media Watch did ask you to give the pin stripes a rest, but pitch black velvet? The colour was a bit too harsh for you and ended up accentuating the flaws in your make up. At least the fit was good, so maybe you could translate that to a softer colour. And Roger Sant, the knot on your neck tie was WAAAY too small! It looked like you borrowed the tie from Neil before he went to La Brea. A fatter knot would add some proportion to your face and neck.

Julian Rogers you are one of the best interviewers around. You had a difficult subject in Gary Hunte who gave monosyllabic answers, but you managed to draw him out to get the answers you needed.

And last but not least. Bobbi, Media Watch is not sure about the short sleeved chocolate jacket, but you looked good, and you need to watch your scripting. You said "Between them the three main parties...". A basic rule of grammar is: between is used when referring to two things, and among is used when referring to more than two things.
And kudos for the dramatic reduction in hand waving.