The cut-throat nature of news-gathering organisations is
legendary.
They stop at nothing to be first with the news. However, in TV at least,
things are no longer what they used to be. Nowadays throats aren’t so
much cut as massaged, while finishing first is no longer the preserve of
the privileged.
Even small stations can join in the fun - they just have to hoist their
standard alongside the right partner. The reason is that the war among
the big organisations to be first with the news has been replaced by a
war of a quite different nature - to be first with the number of
affiliated news stations.
Last week the state South African broadcaster, SABC, announced details
of a three-year deal with the network most vigorously competing in this
conflict, the Atlanta-based CNN. The contract runs from the beginning of
next year to the end of 2000 and enables SABC to run CNN-derived
international news reports and programming such as the Larry King Show
and Q&A. It also gives the green light to a training programme that will
involve South African reporters and technical support staff attending
development courses in the US.
It’s easy enough to see what the benefits will be for SABC - not just
the training but a ready source of stories from countries such as Libya
in which the cost of establishing a standalone bureau would be
prohibitive.
And there is no limit to the amount of CNN-derived material the station
can run. The agreed price for the deal doesn’t alter: ’If it’s a big
news year then they will do very well out of it,’ is how a CNN spokesman
puts it.
But it’s more difficult to see what the attraction is for the cable news
network. CNN already broadcasts into South Africa on the Mnet satellite
package so there is a danger that its appearance on the national
terrestrial service might erode viewership of the station itself.
That hasn’t been the experience of the cable giant so far. It now has
more than 700 affiliate stations around the world and the battle now is
with the likes of Reuters and BBC World to be the biggest international
news provider.
