Friday, January 16, 2009

PERSONALITIES

As we predicted, the media musical chairs has already begun.
As you may have noticed, Odeka O'Neil-Seaton is no longer gracing the anchor's chair for CNC 3's evening news. She has called it quits after exactly one year. What happened there? That newsroom must be very dusty, and Shelly must be very lonely.

Then the Guardian's Asha Javeed (business reporter) has bid farewell to the Guardian; she's heading over to CNMG.
And there's another (how many is this now?) new co-anchor for the CNC 3 Early Morning Show. It's Renee Cummings (daughter of Strike Squad coach Everald Gally Cummings) founder of the Miss Trinidad and Tobago New York Pageant and a former sportscaster at TV6.
She had a very spirited interview with the Guardian's Francis Joseph on Wednesday morning, bringing some of her criminal justice training to bear on the interview.
(But Francis, we can understand why you are in the newspaper business: at one point you said "...to jus go an pick up girls an rape dem and throw dem in the canefield...". Hmmmmmm.)
Anyway, Renee welcome on board. You are coming in at a time when there seems to be a semi-mass exodus from the Ansa McAl media group, but maybe your presence will turn the tide. At least you can use your criminal justice investigative skills to help them uncover the real reason why so many people are leaving.
One note though: your hair does not have to match your clothes or your makeup.
On Wednesday you wore a peach-coloured suit, with very peachy-coloured make up and what looked like a peach hair piece. Please don't go the way of IETV's Giselle McIntyre.

Still with personalities. Is it our imagination or did we hear TV6's fill-in anchorman Gerard Lampow voicing a radio ad for BMobile (something about peas and carrots)?
Now how is it possible that the (sometimes) face of a national newscast is selling a product for a private company? And when a story on the said company comes up in the newscast we are supposed to take him seriously?
Shame TV6, but then Samantha John is also at fault as well as CNMG with Raymond Edwards and Jessie May Ventour for UTC and Jamieson vitamins.
We've never heard Anderson Cooper, Katie Couric, Dan Rather, Lyse Doucet or Sade Baderinwa selling goods during the down time.