John Willis, the British Broadcasting Company's Director of Factual & Learning, gave a
speech at the Royal Television Society at BAFTA in London on 17 June 2003.
Excerpts include the following observations about televsion, particularly American television:
"Now more than ever, as television viewers the world over receive the same messages, has T. S. Eliot's description of television come true: "It is a medium of entertainment which permits millions of people to listen to the same joke at the same time yet remain lonesome"?"
"Pick away at the hundreds of channels on offer and you find that the apparent choice is just a tawdry illusion. Hours of cloned entertainment, for every Batchelor, there is a Bachelorette, jostle with lame comedies and drama-by-numbers."
"Fox News led the way as the military cheerleader apparently giving both the viewers and the politicians what they want. Contra scandal star, Oliver North, reported on the ground for Fox. Bill O'Reilly calls his programme a 'no spin zone' but there's more spin than Shane Warne and Phil Tufnell combined. The channel's proud slogan is Real Journalism, Fair and Balanced, but as columnist Tom Shales put it: 'The only word with any truth in it is 'and'. Even that seems suspect'."
Posted by: Adrian / 8:17 PM
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