How much lower can television sink?
As a conference on television news shows took place at the Zappeion Hall recently, voices were raised over the same issue a just a few hundred meters away in the Parliament. One of the most striking moments at the conference was the screening of a video made up of the most horrifying and tasteless excerpts from recent news bulletins. The barrage of naked flesh, suicide on camera, abused adolescents and bereaved relatives grieving by freshly dug graves provided some indication of the sincerity of private television channels when they promise self-regulation, which is not just a matter of regulating schedules. The vulgarity and trivial character of news programs is an indicator of the state of political life, reminding us that the modern babel of television was constructed arbitrarily with the tolerance and encouragement of the same state officials who are now denouncing its wretchedness and the failure to implement laws. «Upgrading» news bulletins is not only a matter of enforcing the same broadcasting time for all channels and restricting program length; it is also linked to the quality of political life, political debate and with society’s general values and culture. Lowering the standards of news bulletins to the level of «Big Brother» is just another indicator of the depths to which politics has sunk. Neither sermons nor whip-cracking are likely to tame the wild beasts that have been unleashed. As a first step, it might be worth trying to bridge the gap between words and deeds – a little less hypocrisy, a little more self-awareness and humility.
