WINNERS AND, WELL, YOU KNOW

OK. After weeks of tension, noise, sleepless nights, long breaks and just too much stress, the results are in on who did best with elections coverage. All the competitors tried to put their best foot forward. Some strode the course with confidence, while others stumbled from time to time, and others fell down without trying to pick themselves up.
So Media Watch has come up with a countdown list of who did best on "Decision/Campaign '07".

#5. IETV. A community station with heart. Kudos for the separate segment called "Judgement Day 2K7", but like we said before, the apocalypse is perhaps still some ways away.

#4. TV6. A national station that has so many resources, but which were not put to best use during the elections; from reporter placement, to planning for live events, to actually going live. You've been around for 16 years, but at times Media Watch thought you showed the smarts of a brand new station with no experience. You missed the mark, but you have just five years to make it up to your viewers. Don't waste the opportunity.

#3. WIN TV. One of the new kids on the block which really tried to up the ante for the elections. They promised live video on election night and we got it. Sunil Ramdeen almost singlehandedly ran the show at the national station over the last couple of weeks after his newsroom was depleted. Take a bow Sunil. Now that it's all over, GET SOME SLEEP!

#2. CNC 3. Cable station. That says a lot. Not only were they launched just over two years ago, but they were able to make some serious inroads despite a high staff turn over. Shelly was a mainstay, as well as Roger. CNC managed to go live to the the PM's constituency on election night, but TV6 was nowhere to be found. Take a bow Rosemarie. You scooped your former bosses. Shows you planned ahead.

#1. CNMG. We have to admit that when Campaign 41 began more than five weeks ago, there was some scepticism that they would be able to pull off all that they were touting: live campaign rallies every night, reporters at various events on a daily basis with live video, live to the main political party headquarters on election night, a simulcast of morning radio and tv talk shows, a working website with streaming video and up to the minute results.
But CNMG you did not disappoint! You came through on all counts, albeit with just a few hiccups. You launched your campaign on the same night the election was announced, so you were way ahead of the competition from the word go! That's what live, planned tv is all about. And once again you are also a new kid on the block, so to speak, since your new incarnation was launched just months before the election. Kudos.

So that's Media Watch's list. But along the way there were some low points for all the media houses. In most cases, political propaganda was passed off to an unsuspecting audience as investigative journalism. Where were the hard questions for the annoying politicians who were trying to pull the wool over our eyes? Where were the live pictures we were waiting to see from the political rallies? TV6 promised but failed to deliver. They did deliver Extra, which did not live up to expectations.

Even Synergy TV got in on the act, Jason Williams scoring a one on one with the PM. Kudos Jason. But next time please resist the urge to match your lightly coloured grey suit with suede shoes of the same colour. Ugh! And Sasha Mohammed, try to comb your hair and ask your cameraman not to give you so many close ups. Curtis Williams try not to swallow your words when you are live.

TV6 you took long commercial breaks to a new low over the weekend before the election with breaks as long as 9 minutes! Do you know how many people switched channels because you were obviously more interested in cashing in on the season than providing quality coverage to your viewers? For 15 minutes of breaks you had just nine minutes of local news. Steups! Once again, we hope your employees who busted their butts over the last few weeks will also cash in when the cheques hit the bank.

Well Gayelle, your elections coverage was not memorable, so forgive us for not including you on our countdown.

And to the rest of you. Some good work overall, but there is always room for improvement. Good luck next time around.