One of the biggest stories of the past year was the tragic shooting of Paralympian, Oscar Pistorius‘ girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.
Steenkamp was killed in Pistorius‘ home (on Valentine‘s Day no less) after he allegedly mistook her for an intruder and shot her dead. The story blew up in the media like a nuclear bomb and all the world‘s attention has been on Pistorius ever since.
After initial court appearances, Pistorius was charged with murder and his trial date set to start on March 3rd and has been scheduled to run until the 20th.
Now, because of the intense fascination with Oscar, Reeva and what exactly went down that night, DStv has decided to launch a pop-up channel solely focused on Oscar and his trial, round the clock, 24/7.
The channel, which will be produced in collaboration with Carte Blanche, will be called “˜The Oscar Pistorius Trial: A Carte Blanche Channel‘. It will launch on March 2nd, a day before Oscar will start his (much anticipated) trial.
However, DStv has said that will not only focus on the trial itself, but will also broadcast documentaries, interviews, profiles and in-depth analysis of everything affiliated with Pistorius and Reeva‘s tragic murder.
This is the first time that DStv has done anything like this. In the past, where major news stories was concerned, you would have to switch between ENCA, CNN and Sky News to cover all the bases.
There might be some spanner thrown in the works, however. The trial judge has not yet made a decision as to whether or not live broadcasting of the trial will be allowed. It is believed that a decision will be made closer to the time.
Content manager at Multichoice, Aletta Alberts, said that the channel will cover many aspects of the trial and even integrate social media:
“œThis pop-up channel will give our viewers in-depth coverage of the Oscar Pistorius trial, with a rich variety of content and social media integration“ she said.
The channel will be available to all DStv Premium, Extra and Compact customers.
While some are happy about the channel and excited that this major news event will be covered exclusively, others are not so impressed.
Social media has been a buzz since the announcement with many crying out and saying it is insensitive and harsh. Others believe a “œmurderer“ like Pistorius shouldn‘t be given this much attention, and should rather just stand a normal trial like all other murder-accused.
But, given Oscar‘s world wide fame, it would be almost impossible to have a “œnormal“ trial – there is no doubt that most of the world‘s media will be camped outside the Pretoria High Court come March 2nd.
What are your thoughts? Do you think DStv‘s pop-up channel is a good idea or inconsiderate and harsh?
Source: Eyewitness News
