Do you trust the BBC? I’ve long since lost faith in them. It didn’t take this week’s melodramatic revelations, that some of their competitions were faked, for me to feel this way but it certainly bolstered up my argument against the almighty corporation. The BBC have been found guilty of cheating the public during “Children in Need” and “Comic Relief”, to name but two! Is this not a criminal offence, to encourage the public to spend their hard-earned phoning in, essentially, to simply give it away to big business? Were I a charity, and who’s to say that I’m not (!), I would want to distance myself from such shenanigans. It makes the BBC look like gangsters, fiddling money from people any way they can. It even happened on “Blue Peter”, which makes one think that Fagin is running the show! But, in actuality, television lies all the time, especially in the world of marketing and advertising. Pre-recorded video cassettes used to be sold under the slogan, “Own it for life”! That’s assuming the player didn’t mangle the tape during rewind! Now, you can’t purchase a player assuming you still have the tape! You may still own the tapes, you just won’t be able to use them!! When the digital switchover arrives, you won’t be able to record programmes onto videotape in the way that you used to. There won’t be anything worth recording on them anyway! So, what exactly is the incentive to make the investment in order to be able to carry on watching, once the analogue signal is switched off?
Russell T Davies (Yes, him again! You just knew I’d get around to the “Doctor Who” impresario!!) stated a few months ago that Kylie couldn’t possibly be in the Christmas Special because a woman of her stature would be fully-booked for at least two years in advance. Obviously, this was said to dispel internet rumours. But, the writer lied to the public. He deceived us or, at least, attempted to! The truth is that Ms Minogue isn’t in as great a demand as Russell would have us believe!! In other words, she’s not really as popular as the media want us to think she is. It’s all marketing, hype, lies, to manipulate the public into a position where they will feel compelled to watch. Wouldn’t the world be a better place without it? If Russell puts out a statement that “Voyage of the Damned” will be the biggest and best episode yet, there are gullible people out there ready-and-willing to believe him because he is well-known and in the public eye. It must be the truth, it was in the newspaper or on television! There are some of us, in television la-la land, that feel the very-title “Doctor Who”, as used currently, is a misnomer. The series I understand as “Doctor Who” finished in 1989. The current version hasn’t retained enough of the original’s characteristics. So, is it alright to lie? Is avoiding the truth, in truth, a lie? And, is lying only an issue when it affects us financially?
4 comments:
Lying, spin, misinformation, hype - they're all the same thing and I personally would be happier living in a world without any of them. What is truly frightening is how we accept the existence of such things; how they are normalized - especially in the world of media and TV. As soon as we hear some hype we're already second guessing it: is it true, what are they really saying and feeling proud of ourselves when we suss out what was really being said. Like we're part of the game. And, actually, that's nothing to be proud of.
If someone can't be honest I'd rather they just didn't say anything. If other people choose to speculate that's their perogative but to feed the appetite with lies is reprehensible.
With all due (i.e. much) respect, I ain't so sure here...
Clearly dodgy charity gigs, funny phone ins and fobbing off kids on Blue Peter is wrong - though I must admit a cheerful glee that the insufferably patronising benign paternalism that BBC kids TV (esp Blue Peter)exhibited during my 70's childhood viewing may now be punctured.
But the argument stretches too far with Russell TV - there ain't some essentialist definitive Doctor Who - he gave us a version, plenty of folk liked it - we didn't...end of really.... i reserve my right to grump on about it... indeed I've quite enjoyed doing so, but it's Doctor Who, it's on, it's successful - whoudda thought ten years ago?
As for 'biggest and best episode yet' - I think we do ourselves all a disservice top treat it as a statement of anything other than hype... but that's ok isn't it? For those who have more than a passing level of interest in the show, the experience of watching it has been changed fundamentally. There's the internet, spoilers, trailers, blogs, leaks, confidential etc... We can avoid all this, or we can engage with it. The choice is probably harder for Russell T - he's damned if he does and damned if he don't... but it is the way that the media works.... the media works on hype, fantasy, spin - judging it by standards of truth / falsity is maybe playing the wrong game? It's an artifice, an edifice, a monumental folly that we choose to partake in or not... and which we navigate with considerable degrees of media literacy these days.
They want me to phone up and give 'em money - fine - I expect / demand a square deal - and I think there's a general agreement of a line between serious news journalism and other broadcast media (though I except it frays) - but Russell T playin' a few little games with fanboy expectations? Is it really a big deal?
As I said, with due respect....
I leave for a few months and you start writing about "Charmed?" Good god!
Good thing I came back.
Stewart
P.S. Do you use BitTorrent by any chance? If so, I will gladly...lend...you a copy of the Omega Factor.
"We choose to partake in or not" was my point really. I'm erring towards the latter in a big way. I don't wanna play the "game", as you guys call it, of people earning big money especially on the back of having destroyed something I used to enjoy. That applies to both "Doctor Who" and television in the broader sense.
Lots of people criticise the new show then say that they're still going to carry on watching essentially sending out the message, via viewing figures, that the series is a success. Only by not watching will an alternative message filter through that would no doubt cause the series' eventual cancellation.
I would prefer "Doctor Who" to be taken off-air rather than carry on in its present state. I'd rather it was on-air, of course, and that doesn't necessarily have to mean in its original format. It just needs to be better thought through than it presently is.
Nice to see you back, Stewart! It's been a while!! As my interest in "Doctor Who" is now at an all-time low, I was thinking of turning my blog over to a "Charmed" pictorial!!!
I don't use BitTorrent but thank you for the kind offer.
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