The Launch of ZA News
by Sean Tucker on 07/10/09 at 4:36 pm
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On Tuesday Ideate was invited to the launch of ZA News; the new political satire show from co-creators Thierry Cassuto and Zapiro. To get a picture of what the show is, you only need imagine Zapiro’s trademark visuals come to life in ‘Spitting Image’ style rubber puppets, which incidentally used to give me nightmares as a kid.
This is likely not the first time you’ve heard about this project as it has been a long ten years in the making. The uphill battle came in the form of closed doors from the national broadcaster who seemed to oscillate between interest and rejection as often as some of us change underwear.
The final ‘no’ came last year when, not only did the SABC decline to air the show, they declined to even air a ‘show about the show’ (the infamous Special Assignment episode). During this whole debacle the Mail and Guardian actually decided to air the Special Assignment episode in question on their website, in the interests of free speech. They were so inundated with visits that their server actually couldn’t take it and crashed.
It was at this point that Thierry and Zapiro realised that there was another way to do this. The internet. So they approached the Mail and Guardian, who agreed to host the show online, and with Kulula.com signed on as sponsor, the show is now ready for launch.
They have committed themselves to having a new show every weekday, which will be a tall order. They suggest it will be something you can enjoy with your morning coffee. Having seen the first episode I was pleasantly surprised. It was well written and with really good voice acting from the ‘manipulators’.
This trend of finding alternate ways to air your material is on the rise. The combination of tightly controlled media and lack of funding during the recession are forcing creators to find new means of getting their material out to the public. The internet is providing ways for people to blog ideas, publish books, flight radio shows through podcasts and now even air regular TV shows. This is a trend which will only grow as people realize the potential the internet offers you; with 100% control over your own material and a potentially huge global audience.
I for one will be watching how this project does with interest, all the while fighting off the recurrence of childhood night terrors, this time featuring swollen Zuma-heads!
To view episodes visit ZA News online.
View more articles by Sean Tucker.
