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Wake up with Shifla!

On Sunday Feb. 10 Shifla Ibrahim launched the new TVM anchor rotation by doing the 7 am morning news for the first time. She has such good energy, and I’m not surprised to learn she is a big fan of Oprah Winfrey. But there’s a lot of show doctoring to be done before this is a functioning morning newscast. Simple things, like putting a new lead on the stories that are printed out the night before and looking ahead to stories that will help people plan their day. The first show had no weather information because the weather department, located on the airport island, didn’t send any. Even when they send the info, there are no weather graphics for the morning show. Live guests? Sorry, the officials in this country apparently don’t get up to be on TV that early. So for now, the Today show and GMA don’t have to worry about Maldivian competition. Just wait!

Update: After three days of coming in at 5:30 am to supervise the morning show, I can report that Shifla is showing great leadership. She also does the 10 am news from the outlying atolls and has taken the initiative to book live phone interviews with various bureau reporters when there is news on their island. Her producing team, Hafsy and Nashath, are giving their best effort.
We all went out together for a tuna taco breakfast. Go Team Shifla!