Thursday, October 04, 2007

Sport and Business Swamp News!

"Avarice," by Mario Donizetti.

I am becoming more and more aware of the intrusion that sport and business is making into so-called News programmes. Am I imagining it?

Sky News, like many others, now accords around ten minutes (once it was fifteen) to both Australian and Overseas news, ten minutes to Business reports, and ten minutes to Sport. By the time irritating advertisements, polls, promos and the weather are added in, the news of the world is lucky to get ten minutes.

Now, being a suspicious chap, I ask why is the news on commercial channels being gradually reduced? Is it an attempt to dumb the audience down, make them more easy to manipulate? After all, if viewers don't get many facts then they won't start to ask questions about why politicians keep moving to the right or about why we are involved in America's wars or about why the gap between the rich and the poor keeps widening, etc. Where are the serious programmes that deal with world issues in detail, that hold serious debates? Thank heavens for the taxpayer funded ABC and SBS!

Is it an attempt by capitalist media proprietors to promote business as something of great worth and moment, something that should interest everyone rather than the shabby, greed-inducing, human nobility-debasing thing that it is?

With sport, is it an attempt to elevate what is usually nothing more than a violent game between grunting, sweating players who often lack any intellectual credentials and place it onto a faux-marble pedestal? Of course, accompanying sport there are the interminable adds which generate lots of revenue for media proprietors and further advance business interests.

I think the so-called 'news' slots on commercial television, examined closely, raise some interesting questions.

Do you agree?

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7 comments:

Voice said...

I agree that there is a depreciation in News. Not only are we lied to but information is purposely withheld from us. I have BBC World but the news throughout the day is basically the same. Except for the very interesting programs dealing with a diverse range of information. On a second thought I don't think BBC World is pretty good compared to other news sources. Sorry for my unmentioned absence because I had school work to do and that takes priority right now for me.

Daniel said...

Damian, it's always a pleasure to have you call by. I think if truthful, comprehensive news was presented for a change, there would be a mass uprising across the world!

Cheers.

Granny said...

I agree for the most part. Over here it's the celebrities that seem to lead on the news. I am so heartily sick of Britney and Paris.

Sports though? I don't think it needs to take over the news shows but I'm a huge baseball fan and the playoffs are on here.

The contact sports, not so much although I like the little I've seen of Australian rules football.

Coffee Messiah said...

The more people fall for the mundane, the more can be passed by without nary a soul noticing!

Diversions are fine to a degree, but here in the US, it's the source of life,at least it appears. Hence, not much boob tube watching.

Steve Allan wrote a book called "Dumbth" the Dumbing Down Of America and it has come to pass! ; (

Daniel said...

One thing is for sure, Coffee and Granny: the media has much to answer for but so then has the failure of education! Cheers.

Naj said...

have you ever thought of the war reports becoming more and more like sports news?

Daniel said...

The MSM love a good war, Naj. It means great ratings and lots of advertising! The Wealthy love a good war. It means a booming sharemarket! Politicians love a good war. It means they get plenty of photo ops!

Shame about the poor bastards who have to fight it and the innocent civilians who get killed.

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