By Ian Ortega
There is a gulf between theory and practice. It can be a simple matter to know how to do something in the abstract, but actually implementing the ideal is quite different. We try to adjust ourselves to this tension as best we can, and trudge forward. There will always be some degree of difference between what we say, and what we do. The matter is one of degree.
When the gap becomes too wide, we fall into the yawning sinkhole of hypocrisy. But at what point does the gap between theory and practice become unbridgeable? At what point does the label “hypocrite” attach? It is an interesting moral question. The life and career of the philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca may provide us with some answers.
Seneca remains a controversial figure. He hailed the virtues of a simple life, yet collected mansions and mountains of money. He advised the quiet of country living, yet craved the intrigue of the palace. He advised sexual restraint, yet took full advantage of his position for his extramarital gratification. He praised honesty and sincerity, yet flattered the emperor Nero and his cronies as often as he could. To this balance sheet we must add his many positive traits: he did his best to mitigate Nero’s worst excesses, he was generous with his friends, he had the courage eventually to resist his tyrant employer, and he had a first-rate mind.
In August 2009, Moses Serugo was forced to pen an opinion in The Observer titled; Persona non grata at NTV? It was a scathing write-up of whatever he thought was wrong at NTV Uganda.
“I have picked up on television industry intelligence that says NTV has declared me persona non grata. This follows a series of harsh comments I posted on my Facebook page about the cursory treatment of some news items on NTV Tonight.
I did not have kind words for some of their entertainment shows either. I went ahead and said that the scripting on their music personality show, Rendezvous, tasted like bland cooking. I am told the whole newsroom gathered around one of their white iMac desktop computers and chorused my comments loud enough for the news manager to hear.
She joined in and, I am reliably informed, dared me to walk in and file a story if I thought the news gathering process was a walk in the park. My Facebook ire was mostly directed towards the business reporter who covered the Seacom launch. Apart from the fact that this particular broadcast journalist has probably the worst diction [and intonation] on TV, the casual treatment of the news story had me saying that he be gotten rid of.
So instead of daring me to try my hand at the TV news-gathering process, the NTV female news honcho should have ensured that her reporter delivered a crisp news report that answered the “so what” question which is the premise of journalism today. Anyone that has been incensed by slow Internet connections would delight at news that Seacom’s sub-sea cable would be offering 1.28 terabits per second of capacity enabling Internet connectivity at supersonic speeds and for couch potatoes like me, high definition TV!
That news story did not have that information. My take is that NTV is currently short-changing Ugandan viewers in retaining a team of news anchors and reporters that cannot give perspective to the news items crammed into the station’s 45-minute weekday newscasts. NTV has also taken its eye off the entertainment television ball.
Instead of stimulating local programming, it has settled for being a conduit of American TV shows that are well past their sell-by date. It beats me what sense there is in screening the first season of 24 and all those series I can easily get at the downtown DVD pirate spots like Eddie Soft.
I guess NTV can afford to be this complacent mostly because the competition here is not as fierce as the one its parent station has to contend with in Nairobi. It is a different ball game out there which now has NTV play catch up to a Nairobi competitor that has redefined TV programming by commissioning local shows.
You only have to watch Citizen TV available on the DStv channel 146 to see what I am going on about. And that is what NTV here ought to be doing by inviting TV pitches for shows and in turn stimulating an industry of Ugandan screenwriters and television talent. Right now the creative rut in their production department is all too evident in the bland diet of recycled shows.”
Now, Moses Serugo is set to bounce back at NTV Uganda to replace the “irreplaceable” Pamela Amwayi as the new head of programming at NTV Uganda come Monday 5th. Ian Ortega has learned that though this job was never publicly advertised, there was already a vacuum following the exit of Pamela who left at the end of November 2014 after 14 years in the television industry.
In radio or television, a program director or director of programming is the person who develops or selects some or all of the content that will be broadcast. A program director’s selections are based upon expertise in the media as well as knowledge of the target demographic. Typically, a program director decides what radio program or TV program will be broadcast and when.
Thus, Serugo finds himself in a challenging field – one that would show how he’s able to fuse the two fields of theory and practice. Will he be a Seneca; too good in theory but too faltering in practice? Or perhaps he will be Aristippus of Cyrene, where his mastery in theory will also be seen in practice?
One thing we are certain of is that Serugo has the desire for excellence that will be the revolution NTV Uganda has always lacked. This is not just a mere change of guard, so we say, this is a fundamental change. And we believe Serugo will see NTV Uganda compete at a whole new global angle, and not limit itself to out-competing the local channels in Uganda. All the best Bwana Serugo.