‘Reality’ Television

network With television increasingly dominated by the Outrage Business and shamelessly exploitative and cheap ‘reality’ shows, the 1976 Sidney Lumet-directed Oscar-winning movie ‘Network’ looks increasingly prescient. In this bitter satire of the effect that intense commercial competition has on broadcast standards, Australian Peter Finch plays Howard Beale, a TV demagogue so appalled by the profit-driven amorality of the network that employs him that he urges his viewers to turn their sets off. (more…)

7.30 Something

After a build-up bigger and longer than the advertising campaign for Avatar (where were the 3-D glasses?), ABC Television’s revamped current affairs flagship 7.30 Report went to air for the first time on Monday under its “new generation” hosts the televisual Leigh Sales and Chris Uhlmann.

As expected, there was a new set – leaving the flame-haired Leigh up on her feet, weather and finance presenter style, and accompanied by an animated slideshow over her left shoulder.  While the graphics were a welcome addition in explaining number heavy stories (why has the ABC never used them before?), the actual package was depressingly formulaic, reflecting a style that hasn’t changed in television for 40 years. (more…)

That’s Entertainment?

Sometimes, even in journalism, words are superfluous. Simple images and the unmediated experiences of those at the centre of newsworthy events are all that is required to communicate to viewers and readers the magnitude of those events.
So why does Australian commercial television continue to ignore this principle? Instead of simply showing what has happened – in a flood, in a cyclone, in an earthquake – we are told what we can see for ourselves on screen.

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