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You are here: Home / Press / My sado-maso evening

My sado-maso evening

10/10/2006 By christina 16 Comments

I made it a point to watch two things yesterday on our local television station (must have been in a sado-maso mood!):
(1) the MBC 7.30 news bulletin
(2) the nomad no limit challenge show

It turned out to be quite disastrous for the following reasons:
(1) I was highly unsatisfied with both
(2) Avi scowled at me for imposing the nomad show viewing
(3) Anya & Kyan were in a ‘rioting’ mood and almost broke each other’s neck with their reckless acts 😉


Remarks on the 7.30 news ‘boulletine’ (comme dirait l’autre):

– I missed the very beginning but I did see the end of the first report featuring a philatelist + the Yvan Martial interview by Faycal Caunhye. Yvan Martial is a seasoned journalist who is apparently also a historian. I don’t want to criticise him but the title is a bit overdone; I’d rather use the expression ‘témoin de l’histoire’. Being able to delve into archives and recall some old stories for the masses doesn’t make you a historian…

– There was a ‘défilé’ of ministers; Min Valayden is at the top of the hit parade (appeared at least 4 times in the very same bulletin – must have been very hectic for him yesterday dealing with all those cameramen and reporters!). Seebun came second with two appearances (can someone advise her to be a bit more sober in her dresscode like for instance Sonia Ghandi? She looks a bit too much like she has just popped in back form a Chowthari).

– There was also a ‘défilé’ of pujas, prayers, and preaches. Grandiloquent words like ‘sacrifice de soi, cheminement de la vie, code du devoir, valuers familiales’ were poured into our ears accompanied by sad and grim images of utterly bored people attending those ceremonies.

– Old people seem to be forever equated with free meals + official speeches + sega dancers. The cocktail did not seem to inject any more life in them… Anyone ever thought of asking them to actually do the speaking and the dancing themselves. Might have revived them.



About the nomad thing:

– Though the visual look and filming is much better than the MBC productions, there is definitely a big LACK in this show: there is no serious stuff going on!
Viewers did not get any information on the Internet challenges (that’s what it was supposed to be all about, isn’t it?) and so, the whole process was completely obscure and the announcement of the results by Ben Javed totally artificial.
At least in StarAc, the participants get to sing and be evaluated on their performance. Same goes for A la Recherche du nouveau machin-chouette (whose codes were copied by Circus). I was not expecting much from the show but this level of vacuum is particularly astounding.

Filed Under: Press, Society, Uncategorized

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Avinash Meetoo says

    10/10/2006 at 07:11

    Ouf!

    I thought that you were going to impose those on Kyan, Anya and myself every day 🙂

    Reply
  2. vicks says

    10/10/2006 at 15:28

    Was expecting more from the first reality show.
    It was supposed to be based on challenges on the internet..

    tell us what the challenges were and at least talk to the participants about how they think to solve them.. their difficulties etc..!!

    i am not interested in their safari, trip to the seaside or what did they eat!!

    Reply
  3. Kunal says

    10/10/2006 at 15:40

    Nice comments these sh*tty local programs ! 🙂

    Reply
  4. Kunal says

    10/10/2006 at 15:42

    Nice comments ! haha 🙂

    Reply
  5. joseph says

    11/10/2006 at 04:19

    The Question to be asked? What can we do to move the omni potent,omniscience,omnicontout to change?I have given up watching le journal televise but yet has to keep an eye open; less I might miss out important events.We have to push MBC to improve by telling them our specific dissatisfaction and giving them areas where we as viewers would like to see improvements.Would appear that our national TV is at the service of the pouvoir point blank. Service to the nation is secondary mission.How can we tv viewers become proud of our national TV?

    Reply
  6. christina says

    11/10/2006 at 04:41

    Well, I heard that MBC had commissioned a survey on viewing of its programmes by the audience. But, the report was conveniently shelved.

    Clearly its director + president do not give a damn about whether people are actually watching and their levels of satisfaction with the programmes. They do not wish to work for the public, rather they are here to please those in power who have nominated them + what are perceived to be ‘powerful’ organisations which avail themselves of the term ‘socio-culturel’ but should rather be called ‘ethno-centric’ clubs.

    Reply
  7. vicks says

    11/10/2006 at 09:54

    just like radio1, topfm and radio+ made an impact, maybe another independent tv channel will change everything!!

    1. News can be classified as “How did our ministers spend their day”, there are other things relevant besides someone ki pe coupe ruban par ici par la!!

    2. lack of interesting local programs!!
    programs like “les enfant d’abord”,”ki ti cuit”,”zenfant pays morice” are quite nice!

    We have a great health problem in mauritius.. related to diabete, hypertension etc.. government pe fer campagne pou sensibilise dimoune!!
    what better medium than television..
    Show people how to cook healthy food!!, maybe a section on simple exercises that can be carried out at home itself

    also we need a program like hardtalk on tv, i have the feeling that some journalist are afraid to ask challenging question to our ministers anyway
    maybe on the show people could phone in and ask their questions!!

    Reply
  8. christina says

    12/10/2006 at 02:56

    You’re quite right. There are some interesting programmes that are primarily made by external agencies like Très Pied, Clap, etc. Occasionally, there are also 1 or 2 MBC-made programmes that are OK.
    But the news bulletin is a big SHAME.

    As I hinted earlier, I think it’s those at the top who must be blamed first. True also to say that there are many MBC staff who lack imagination and intelligence. And those who do have some intelligence & imagination either won’t dare propose interesting programmes or if they do, get short-circuited or discouraged very fast.

    Are you referring to the BBC’s HardTalk or the local TopFM radio version? The BBC one is really a compelling show (I used to admire Tim Sebastian but he’s no longer doing it); the TopFM one is OK though miles behind the BBC version.

    Anyway, regarding private radio stations in Mtius, yeah they have had a big impact but they tend to settle down a bit in the comfortable local reporting and opinion-thinking habits. Could have been better…

    Reply
  9. vicks says

    12/10/2006 at 10:38

    Indeed your right! Top level management is really the first one to be blameD!!

    taking the MBC for example.. they change after every election, everyone placing their own people there

    BUT ARE THESE GUYS QUALIFIED???

    Maybe having someone other than a Mauritian at the head of MBC could be prove to be nice ( taking Bert Cunningham for example, has been quite dynamic and thrown in some nice changes in our customs department)

    personally i don’t really watch MBC and the rare times am disgusted

    To keep myself informed, i just make my morning online newpaper roundup, slashdot and watch free iptv shows 🙂

    Reply
  10. christina says

    13/10/2006 at 01:53

    Well, even if they might have qualifications on paper, they do not have any vision and least of all any imagination…

    I’m not necessarily sure that you need a foreigner to do the job, though there are some adavantages as a foreigner would be less prone to bow to the influence of local politics and imbecility.

    In fact, it’s the MBC Act which needs to be reviewed completely so that governing parties have little or no say in the running of the corporation + you need someone really intelligent, creative and credible + a reform in its whole human resource management.

    Reply
  11. Patrice says

    14/10/2006 at 04:51

    There is a problem somewhere in top management..
    CEB, BPML,MBC.. etc

    we come to hear that the CEB has been having losses since years and years now..

    i’m not the the field of management but if an institution or company has been making such loses.. isn’t it top management’s responsibilty to try to solve them…

    most of the times people at the top level are quite old guys, they are not that dynamic and tend to stick to old style working!! maybe thats also a problem

    Reply
  12. christina says

    14/10/2006 at 14:08

    Yeah you’re quite right. People at the top of major public or parastatal institutions are all political nominees who feel that their nomination is a reward for their commitment to their party or leader.

    So, they do not feel personally accountable; some even feel like they got a birthday gift so it’s their own little toy for their selfish pleasure, whence all the lavish expenses on cars, trips abroad and claiming of commissions for allocation of contracts!

    Reply
  13. vicks says

    14/10/2006 at 14:44

    The problem that you mentioned “car expenses, trips abroad.. etc” could have been solved if the press reported these matter to the public ( it will not have stopped, but decreased these cases)

    The ruling party should have been afraid of the press and not the other way round 😛

    “ki pou fer its not a perfect world”

    Reply
  14. Yashvin says

    14/10/2006 at 14:49

    hi to all…
    have been following the dicussion here but till now i was only passive 😛

    as for the nomad thing, its aim was to be more commercial than really be a “tele realite” event
    u can this tele realite when the 15 show daily has more to do with the interviews of the candidate rather than what they did all the 24 hrs round…

    politics…i prefer to stay out of this since the whole system is politically incorrect !

    as for the gift matter…lol, check my blog….

    cya

    Reply
  15. joseph says

    15/10/2006 at 07:20

    Reminds me of a situation! I am intitled for the promotion because of my past performances.Does having been an excellent accounts debtors clerk for 10 years with the company justify your promotion to become the accountant of the company? But sir,I am the most senior of the lot?
    Generally promotion to higher level jobs are based on past performance on lower level job.Judgement on the potential of performing the required task albeit based on past performance would be the determining factor used to any appointment.It is a trust and faith in the future surely not a reward.
    We are still in the mentality of “Tenure” rather than “Performance”! When would the change occur?

    Reply
  16. christina says

    15/10/2006 at 07:47

    Have you ever heard about a funny book called ‘The Peter Principle’ written by Laurence J. Peter? The principle states that every employee in a hierarchy will tend to rise to his level of incompetence!

    In other words, each worker gets promoted up to a point where he is completely incompetent, which implies that, at some point in time, all people who have been promoted to a higher post are incompetent for that post and also all organisations are most probably headed by incompetent people.

    Although it tends to be a bit caricatural, one can’t deny the principle has some streak of truth… specially in the local public and parastatal sector and in parts of our private sector too, mind you!

    Reply

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