We usually do paperwork on Fridays, which is a prayer day for most Maldivians since all are Muslim. It also means we have a chance to see how the TV bulletins might look without our daily input. The following comments are an honest critique so we can continue to work together to improve the broadcast every day.
The Friday night 8 pm had ZERO sound bites from real people. There was a long package about some kind of island redevelopment (more than three minutes) with NO soundbites or natural sound at all. Rilwan turned two good packages on illegal immigrant workers and a drug dealer court case, but they were buried too far down in the show and mostly file tape or official police videos. No standups in the entire show. A package that we assigned the day before on the skyrocketing cost of milk (up 137% over the past month) was a boring VO of one company's product and an interview with a guy from the milk company. Since they were obviously in the store, couldn't they find anyone who is struggling to pay for milk for their kids? There were also a couple of stories that were nothing but meeting footage...BOPSA.
The Saturday morning show had basically the same material but led with a long reader about -- guess who -- President Gayoom. The entire program was so poorly produced that at one point in sports you could hear the poor anchor coughing and clearing her throat on camera because she just couldn't read any more! Fatima is talented and she deserves to have a better script than that!
Just want to let all my friends at TVM know that I am watching and hoping that you will be able to put the lessons from the training into practice when Bob and I are not looking over your shoulder. You are all talented journalists and you can do better!
The Friday night 8 pm had ZERO sound bites from real people. There was a long package about some kind of island redevelopment (more than three minutes) with NO soundbites or natural sound at all. Rilwan turned two good packages on illegal immigrant workers and a drug dealer court case, but they were buried too far down in the show and mostly file tape or official police videos. No standups in the entire show. A package that we assigned the day before on the skyrocketing cost of milk (up 137% over the past month) was a boring VO of one company's product and an interview with a guy from the milk company. Since they were obviously in the store, couldn't they find anyone who is struggling to pay for milk for their kids? There were also a couple of stories that were nothing but meeting footage...BOPSA.
The Saturday morning show had basically the same material but led with a long reader about -- guess who -- President Gayoom. The entire program was so poorly produced that at one point in sports you could hear the poor anchor coughing and clearing her throat on camera because she just couldn't read any more! Fatima is talented and she deserves to have a better script than that!
Just want to let all my friends at TVM know that I am watching and hoping that you will be able to put the lessons from the training into practice when Bob and I are not looking over your shoulder. You are all talented journalists and you can do better!
4 comments:
This is the real issue once you leave the TVM will return to its daily routine of the past 30 years.We have been bombarded with the image of Gayoom as he wants to be seen and this will continue as long as the regime does exist.I'm really saddened to say this that in my opinion all your efforts will be in vain.Maybe they will learn to better edit pieces on Gayoom but change in Maldives still is a distant dream as power to change is not seen as real power.
Thank you for trying.
We're not giving up. However, we realize we may be only planting seeds for the future. A free press is essential if your democracy is to have any chance of success. Thanks for posting.
A number of consultants comes and go here. But we do not see much impact, and we do not know what they been unto. In some offices you will see more consultants in certain departments then the locals.
Its good to know that you have been working to make a difference here and have given some effort.
What interest me most is your 'courage' [in Maldivian context] to express the problem. And thats interestingly the difference between the consultants from some of our neighbors and those from the northern hemisphere. Quite often the consultants leave by telling the paymaster what they like to hear rather than making a difference.
I hope your effort will help to liberate the state TV from the realms of its president, and will make it a reliable source for people from all political orientation can place their confidence.
Best
I,m sure that your efforts will create people in the state media who feel that they should be more independent and see the whole picture rather than Maumoonize everything.Lets say the amount of freedom people squeezed out of this regime in the past 4 years is tremendous and there will to change is much stronger for the government to stop.If the government do realize this it might just work to there advantage , Man at the top is too slow....
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