NEW YEAR WISHES

As the new year begins, we'd like to say congrats to Sharmilla Persad of TV6 who has shown a marked improvement in her voice presentation. We know we have hit you really hard in the past, but that's just par for the course. You can always do better, and sometimes people need a little nudge to propel them to where they should be.
Keep it up.
Your colleague Yolanda (with the Spanish accent) has also shown some improvement in her presentation, although sometimes the heavy accent is a bit distracting. But perhaps voicing that piece on Latin America suits her, makes it seem more authentic?
Anyway, keep it up as well.

On the other hand, sports reporter James Saunders needs to tone it down a bit. We realise you are going for the high-energy feel, but we are sure not even the Energiser Bunny would sound like you do if he had a voice.
On Wednesday evening (December 31st) you gave a round-up of stories, but it was really difficult to pay attention to what you were saying as you were reading waaaaaaay too fast! Slow down! We understand what you are trying to do, but there's also a way not to do it. Please experiment with different speeds and tones to get the effect you are looking for instead of just rushing through the script. This makes it very difficult for the viewer to hear what you are saying and in the end you would have wasted your time and your editor's time because the viewer would have either complained throughout the piece and not hear a word you said, or worse, switched stations.

And finally, Samantha John of TV6 is being missed. One reader told us they would rather look at/listen to Sammy Jo at 7pm rather than Fabian Pierre because he's boring (not our word). Our word is cocky.
Mr Pierre, some of your counterparts including (from CNC 3) Miss Hawkins, Mrs Dass-Clarke, Mr Sant, Mrs O'Neil-Seaton (who all used to sit at your 7pm desk at one time or other) and your boss Mr Kalipersad have loads more experience than you do when it comes to presenting news, yet we never get that cocky, I-know-it-all-you-better-look-at-me-I-am-trying-so-hard-to-be-a-cool-presenter attitude from them. We don't even get that from newcomers Miss Maharaj over at IETV, or the Lee sisters at CNMG, or even former model (who has every right to expect that people should look at him) turned sportscaster Robert Dumas.
The only person we would expect that type of attitude from is Paolo Kernahan of Gayelle, based on his off-beat personality and the nature of his newscasts (including Skews).
We realise you probably think you've hit the media jackpot by moving from midday news to the big lights at 7pm, but as we've advised your colleague James Saunders, tone it down a bit.

By the way Mrs Dass-Clarke, you are not off the hook, as we hope for 2009 that you will no longer, in the words of another blogger, "toss your hair, bat your eyes, and make a lot of (useless) hand gestures (with pen in hand)."

We also hope to see less media musical chairs this year. Reporters hopping from one station/newspaper to the next then trying to high-tail it back to their original place of abode. Neil Beekhee (formerly of CNC 3) did not last long at C News (he actually didn't make much of an impact either); so where is he now? Hema Ramkissoon is no longer at CNC 3. Where is she now?
Managers, we know the talent pool in the local media is limited, but if you offer training and palatable salaries and working conditions to journalists, the musical chairs will be kept to a minimum. You also need to rein in producers/editors who feel the need to put undue pressure on good journalists.