Austin to Africa

ITV ups the African ante this week as news presenter Mark Austin returns to the region to take up residence on the banks of the Limpopo river in easy striking distance of Zimbabwe,

“By sending our top presenter undercover and anchoring our main bulletins on location this week, we are hoping to focus the news agenda on the catastrophe that is Zimbabwe in a way that no other TV network has done,” says Deborah Turness, editor of ITV Network News… It’s time to do something that has real impact – to make people stop and really grasp the extent of the man-made disaster that is Zimbabwe today,” she says. “The average life expectancy is now under 40. Millions are living in fear and dying in poverty. Mugabe wants to stop the world from witnessing the slow death of a nation – and it’s our job to go in there to tell our viewers the truth about his regime.” link