This is from the Guardian article
Quote:
The influence of reality programmes has been out of all proportion to their number. They have infected the mainstream of the medium. History is one small example - now it has to be "living" history. Commissioning editors have less of the schedule to play with; they become risk-averse. Originality suffers.
Then there is the cult of celebrity, which fosters values that are utterly shallow and kill real ambition. We tell kids what matters is being a celebrity and we wonder why some behave the way they do. And what about the "lucky" ones, the ones who make it into the house, on to the screen? Most survive unscathed - so far as we know. But then, we would not know if they were damaged, would we, because we lose interest once they are no longer "famous". BB5, we were told, would "get evil". The house would be made more claustrophobic to "prompt the explosion of any tensions". And when the explosions duly happened, what are we told? "The welfare of the housemates is always our overriding concern". Note the "always". Do I need to join the dots?
In society as a whole, reality television erodes the distinction between the public and the private, which is a profoundly important aspect of our culture. Much more worrying is its coarsening effect. It turns human beings into freaks for us to gawp at. And don't tell me it's just entertainment. You can't use people with real lives and real problems and real children as "just entertainment". Well, you can, but it's corrupting. The first time I watched Big Brother live there were two men lying on beds and talking about women. Or rather "********** women". And talking about their responses to them. Or, rather, "my ********** s*****". My, how we've pushed back the boundaries of television. How proud we should be.
Let me give you a quote: "To apply broadcasting to the dissemination of the shoddy, the vulgar and the sensational would be a blasphemy against human nature." That was Lord Reith. But what did he know? Patronising old toff.
You may ask why I'm attacking reality TV when it's in its death throes. Well, because it's not. What happened when Big Brother ratings were down last year? The ratchet effect took over. We had to be shocked that bit more. That's what always happens when ratings are the only measure. And ratchets work only one way. Even when this genre exhausts itself, it will leave behind an audience that has been desensitised. The ratchet has been at work.
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http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/sto...292765,00.html
