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March 21, 2006
The Dreaded Meeja
In the previous post I mentioned the punishment by the National Commission for Being a Good Little Boy of a TV station for allowing a guest (Kazimiera Szczuka) on a show to mock the voice of a physically handicapped woman. In an admirable display of solidarity, Gazeta Wyborcza printed a trancript of the relevant part of the interview on March 18th, complete with stage directions: "[here Szczuka tries to imitate her high-pitched, prayerful timbre]". The real name of the National Commission for etc etc is "The National Commission for Radio and Television" - not newspapers. In an interesting parallel with Ireland of years gone by, TV is more jealously guarded (read: "censored") by the authorities than the press. Whether this is because the press has been tamed or because no one cares what intellectuals who read books and newspapers think I leave up to the reader.
Posted by hgrodsk at March 21, 2006 06:06 PM
Comments
But isn't it true that in most European countries (as opposed to the US) that, because of the public service ethic at place when TV started here (1950's) broadcasting is seen as having a greater influence, and hence a greater responcibility to be 'objective'. That's why it would be impossible to have a TV station like Fox News in Europe. Whereas the press traditionally has more freedom to be impartial.
Saying that, all those rules are broken by the special statues TV Trwam and Radio Maryja have...
Posted by: beatroot at March 26, 2006 03:03 PM
I'm not sure it would be impossible to have a Fox news in Europe. You might want to check the View from Bologna...
Posted by: Henry Grodsk at March 26, 2006 06:52 PM