CHANNEL 4 TV AND BIG BROTHER
Jan
17 2007
Apart
from Big Brother and some other rubbish, I had recently been of the
opinion that Channel 4 was a national asset, with some good programmes
and good news and current affairs content. Big Brother has always been
rubbish, a national embarrassment, a mystery to most people that it had
an audience at all, let alone people who wanted to appear on it. Racism
would seem to be the least of its problems, utter trash covers it all.
Why on earth did a successful, accomplished Bollywood star go near it?
It
is hardly surprising that eventually some occurrence has finally forced
normal
people to pay attention to the programme, with the obvious result that
the
sponsors have woken up and withdrawn their funding. With a bit of luck
nobody will be ready to pick up the tab. I wondered who Jade Goody was.
Now I have seen her I recommend euthanasia as the kindest remedy. If
she was a dog surely the RSPCA or the Police would put her down. I
suppose the fact that an Indian actress speaks English well and Jane
Goody doesn't might be one cause of her dysfunction*.
As
for Channel 4, are they really that desperate? Generally speaking
commercial gain is no excuse for appalling behaviour that damages
society. We prosecute drug dealers on these grounds. Channel 4 seem to
justify Big Brother on the grounds that some people want it and are
prepared it pay for it. On these grounds, why don't they advertise and
sell heroin and cocaine? Putting rubbish on public TV in the cause of
commercial gain is moral turpitude.
* On re-reading my thoughts, my criticism of Goody is very unjust. She
is more sinned against than sinning. Endemol and Channel 4 are entirely
responsible for the exploitation and humilitation of these people.
Goody and others should never have been used in this way any more than
they should have been dropped out of an aircraft without a parachute,
if they were foolish enough to agree, for entertainment.
The idea that this is educational or therapeutic, the holding up of a
mirror to society, is badly off target. Goody is representative of a
small minority, Putting people like that on TV encourages those like
them. It offends those who do not realise she is not representative of
Britain. So it is a lose-lose action with absolutely no corrective or
profitable 'upside'.
Now that the man in charge of Channel 4 has shown his face on TV I am
less surprised. His face and the sound that emerged from it
had less character than the average arse.