A Media Person's Musings

When TV Goes Too Far

Big Brother fever is upon us and all eyes are focussed on Channel 4. The eighth series of this 'reality' show promises to be even more controversial than ever before with Channel 4 and Endemol raising the stakes even before the contestants arrive in the house: The house has been designed to frustrate with the bath placed in the middle of the living area and the fridge freezer  in the garden. 

On a different front the embattled broadcaster is ramping up publicity aggressively  for another show. This weekend's papers were full of protest at Channel 4's decision to screen a documentary that features graphic images of Priness Diana after the crash that killed her.

Now it has been announced that Endemol (Big Brother's production company) has a new reality show to be aired in the Netherlands where viewers have to vote for the worthiest recipient of a donor kidney. The kidney is from a terminally ill woman who doesn't want to make the decision herself. Endemol has (weakly) argued its case for the show saying it is highlighting the difficulties of sourcing donor organs.

What next I wonder? It is getting frighteningly close to the film Citizen Verdict where the public vote on whether a man is guilty of murder and then get the opportunity to pay to view his execution. When that film came out the concept was thought of as ludicrous...now I am not so sure it is...

Hard Luck Harry

So today we hear that Prince Harry is not going to be deployed to Iraq. The MOD had previously said that the Sandhurst graduate would be going into active service as an armed reconnaissance officer. Now in a dramatic U-turn they say that the Prince is subject to a number of threats that would also affect those around him.

This is a controversial decision but this was bound to happen and it makes me question why Harry (or now Prince William should be in the army anyway if there is no chance of them seeing active service. This  decision limits them to desk jobs. In recent history all the Royals have some sort of affiliation with our armed forces - Prince Philip saw active service in WW2 and Prince Andrew served as a helicopter pilot in the Navy in the Falklands conflict.

Surely Prince Andrew  (also the second son - but not the only spare to the heir) was as much of a target if not more so on a huge battleship that could be easily identified. I would put it that Harry would be more difficult to target on the ground in combats. I would have thought that all the tactical manoeuvres would be done with an element of secrecy and it would be difficult to track one soldier among thousands. But then I know nothing about the army and maybe I assume too much.

Or maybe, as my cynical streak kicks in, the real reason for this decision is that the next in line to the throne after Charles, William and Harry  is in fact Prince Andrew and then his two daughters by (the outcast) Fergie - maybe, just maybe they didn't want to risk it!

In any case I have a lot of sympathy for the father of one of the boys killed in the conflict who pointed out that with this decision the MOD is saying that Harry's life is worth more than his son's.

Feeling the Eurovision Love

I know it is very cheesy, and very uncool for me to admit this, but I love the Eurovision Song Contest and look forward to it every year. Of course I don't take it seriously, the majority of the songs are simply terrible, but I love the spectacle and the myriad of cultural differences when it comes to entertainment and music.

Now the contest has become a barometer for national popularity. With so many people from so many countries voting it has always been the case that certain countries will favour their neighbours: It has always been the case that the Nordics stick together, as do the Balkans. But I was interested and not a little disappointed to see that in the voting this year those factions were even more pronounced than ever.

What was even more interesting is how unpopular the UK is in our ever expanding European Union....Poland can always rely on Hungary to give them a vote and Serbia can always rely on Belarus. The UK can't rely on anyone (perhaps ireland)..we clearly have no friends.

I'm not saying our entry deserved a lot of votes but it was certainly a lot better than many of the others and didn't deserve to come 2nd last. We clearly, in our stance over Iraq, have alienated the majority of our fellow European countries. What I don't understand is if we are so disliked, why do so many of the people from those countries want to live here?

It was 1966!

It never ceases to amaze me how we cling on, as a nation, to the victory of the 1966 football World Cup! Songs are written about it, the team members (living) are still revered as heroes and there is even a popular TV show named after one of the commentator's final lines "they think it's all over ... it is now".

Recently one of the squad, Alan Ball, died. His memorial service was screened on all the major news stations - live! People lined the streets and listened outside the cathedral. It was like a State funeral or a Royal funeral. I know I will provoke outrage (from the male contingent) when I say this: He was only a footballer for Heaven's sake! He didn't get a Nobel prize, he didn't create a cure for any disease, he didn't save anyone's life. He was simply a nice fellow who could kick a ball in his youth, manage a good squad for the rest of his career and entertain as an after dinner speaker.

Now I see that we have a huge statue of the 1966 team captain Bobby Moore unveiled outside the new Wembley stadium. I just don't get it. When are we going to let go of (and stop dining out on) a very long past success? I do think it is a 'boy thing' as none of the women I talk to about it understands either.

My point is simple: I think clinging on to the past prevents us winning in the now!

Blubbing Blair

I have been more than a little disinterested in the impending announcement of Tony Blair's resignation. The deal between him and Gordon Brown had been sealed years ago leaving us with a foregone conclusion for our next Prime Minister. Its all a bit uninspiring.

I have just sat through Blair's excrutiating TV broadcast. He rolled out his quavering, emotional, soupy  "I am not just a Prime Minister, I am also a man who did what he thought was right" hammy speech.

More and more politicians are becoming entertainers in this way and playing the TV card. Blair's speech could well have been written by Richard Curtis: It reminded me of Notting Hill - the movie where Julia Roberts played a famous TV star and falls in love with a 'nobody'. She says in the film "I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her"

BBC Bias

I have always been baffled by the way the media has a 'take' on a circumstance or a situation. And I have also always been frustrated by the BBC's middle class, middle England reporting. The BBC is actually just a completely frustrating organisation. It claims to be one of the most diverse organisations but really its news agenda says it all.

The BBC's reporting of the tragic abduction of a 3 year old girl on holiday in the Algarve, Portugal this morning summed up the organisations values. The little girl was sleeping in her bedroom while her parents were eating out in a tapas bar checking in on her (and her toddler brother and sister) every so often. The BBC describes the parents as 'devoted' and a family friend has said that they feel the police have been 'ineffectual' and earlier reports said that the family felt abandoned.

If this had happened to a poor family on holday at Butlins or some other holiday camp instead of the expensive Mark Warner complex I will bet my last pound that the BBC's reporting would have been totally different. Indeed the media would have been baying for the parents blood had they not been white middle class and seemingly respectable.

The facts of the matter speak for themselves. They left their children alone while they ate. To me it doesn't make a difference whether they were 50 or 300 yards away. They shouldn't have been away! I dont have children but I have looked after children - I have nephews and nieces and godchildren who have been left in my care at home and on holiday. Never, not in any circumstances, would I leave them to go out to eat. Even in what appeared to be a safe hotel complex.

My heart goes out to the parents. I think their actions were ill-judged but they don't deserve this and they could never have conceived that this would happen. I also think they are getting an easy ride from the media because of their status and that is a blessing to them.