Tuesday, September 07, 2004
Much of modern TV is damaging, says broadcaster
Much of modern television is not only bad but socially corrosive, coarsening and brutalising viewers through its obsessions with sex, aggression and voyeurism, according to British broadcaster and Mastermind host John Humphreys. Speaking at the Edinburgh Television Festival he said broadcasters should abide by the first principle of the Hippocratic oath - first do no harm.
"It's not a bad principle for broadcasters. The good television of today is better than the best television of the old days. The bad television is worse. It is not only bad, it is damaging. Meretricious. Seedy. Cynical. Good television does not balance the bad. Not if it coarsens and brutalises and turns us into voyeurs. The good cannot pay the dues of the bad when the bad is indefensible. And some of our worst television is indefensible. It does harm," Humphreys said.
Much of modern television is not only bad but socially corrosive, coarsening and brutalising viewers through its obsessions with sex, aggression and voyeurism, according to British broadcaster and Mastermind host John Humphreys. Speaking at the Edinburgh Television Festival he said broadcasters should abide by the first principle of the Hippocratic oath - first do no harm.
"It's not a bad principle for broadcasters. The good television of today is better than the best television of the old days. The bad television is worse. It is not only bad, it is damaging. Meretricious. Seedy. Cynical. Good television does not balance the bad. Not if it coarsens and brutalises and turns us into voyeurs. The good cannot pay the dues of the bad when the bad is indefensible. And some of our worst television is indefensible. It does harm," Humphreys said.
