8/25/07

BBC's Jeremy Paxman on What's Wrong with TV?

"The more television there is, the less any of it matters."

Paxman describes a medium that is confused and has lost its way.

"Would it not be a lot more sophisticated — and honest — to acknowledge sometimes that things may be more complicated than they appear? The problem is that all news programmes need to make noise. The need has got worse, the more crowded the market has become. We clamour for the viewers' attention and a sort of expectation inflation sets in...

...My point is that there comes a point where the frenzy has to be put to one side, the rolling story halted, so that we can make sense of things. Television journalism's justification should be the justification of journalism through the ages: to inquire, to explain and to hold to account. The news may have been dull, but it was respected because it made sense of the day. That involved people assessing, filtering, separating the froth from what mattered. It was, in short, the exercise of clear judgment. And in return, it demanded — and got — the trust of the audience."

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