Public Service Broadcasting in the Digital Age
Please read and comment on a new blog on the survival of public service broadcasting in the digital age.
Money Money Money…
You check your numbers. And you check them again. You have all six numbers.
First Question: How much have you won?
Today the family who won £26 million on the Euromillions Lottery were paraded in front of the press.
Is this the beginning of a happy new life for the Sturt family from Dorking in Surry? Or the beginning of a scary, apprehensive and daunting rollercoaster?
I often ask myself.
“If I won the lottery, would I appear on TV, to let everyone know I am now incredibly rich.”
If you answer is yes, I can see why.
You want to celebrate. You want people to feel happy for you. You want to relish in the 5 minute fame and parade yourself. I admit that I have that urge to tell everyone how luck I am.
But then I consider the long-term repercussions. You are now rich and everybody knows you are. You have never had anything near this amount of money before in your life. You are also vulnerable.
Selfishly, you immediately think that charities will begin knocking at your door and long-lost relatives and friends will come out of the woodwork and become your best friend, coincidently.
Luckily Camelot are very helpful in guiding you on how to invest and look after your money and put you in touch with the right people.
I have first hand experience of this. Two people I know won £1m on a lottery scratch card.
Although somewhat less than the Sturt, it scared them more than excited initially.
When you win this amount of money, it can pick you up from your life and completely change you for the better or the worse. You feel vulnerable and need time to register exactly how much money who have won.
I remember them saying to me “I can’t get beyond £10,000 in my head at the moment. Thats as far as I can let myself go”
£10, 000 is believable, but £1, 000, 000 is not a figure you can imagine in your bank account.
They chose not to disclose their identity to the local and national press who were eager to find out who became millionaires when visiting their local shop.
They did not touch their windfall for a couple of months and instead spent the time adjusting to the idea of being millionaires. Also what would you do first with that amount of money.
I worry that the Sturt family have not yet accepted themselves just how lucky they are but also how serious an amount of money they now have. It harks back to the ITV sitcom At Home with the Braithwaites. This farcical comedy exaggerates the dangers which can surface when you win this amount of money.
Hopefully the Sturt family will not imitate the ITV drama. Lets hope they enjoy their money and that the media intrusion will not have harmed their new lives as multimillionaires.
The ‘Beautiful Game’, or not…
Has the sporting world found a new Vinnie Jones in the form of Elizabeth Lambert from the US?
The University of New Mexico player has been caught on camera yanking the ponytail of another player during a match with Brigham Young University, along with punching other players.
She has been named as one of the foulest players in the history of women’s football and has been suspended indefinitely by her university team. Is this setting a new trend for women’s football? I hope not.
Follow link to video footage
Courtesy of skynews.com
Possible rethink?
After watching with Nick Griffin’s appearance do I still condone his appearance? Yes I do. Do I think it could have be handled differently. Yes I do.
For me, his appearance made very uncomfortable viewing. Although I did relish the BNP being made to look even more stupid than it already presents itself, the whole show was devoted to Nick Griffins being on the panel. It should have been called ‘Question Time with special guest Nick Griffins.’ Compare this to previous weeks. David Dimbleby selects questions from the audience on varying issues from the news agenda. The panelists each have the opportunity to present their, or their party’s, views on that issue. Instead the show seemed to be a bear-baiting arena where Mr Griffin was ridiculed. Naturally the viewing audience begin to pity Mr Griffin, even feel sorry for him. ‘Poor bloke’, did he deserve this treatment?
It couldn’t have been a normal episode of QT, with the amount of controversy Griffin’s appearance was provoking; but I do feel the BBC wanted to present themselves as an unbiased broadcaster by allowing him on the topical show although it only revealed their weaknesses in allowing the debate to concentrate on anything but him.
Time to Question Mr Griffin
Question: Will Nick Griffin escape alive this evening after experiencing the wrath of Bonnie Greer and David Dimbleby on Question Time? I expect he will, but with the BNP’s tail between his legs. I could not condone the BBC enough for letting the leader appear on the show. If anything it will highlight the impossibility of the BNP’s policies. How interesting that two of the panelists are non-white and have mixed race heritage. With mass media attention and political debates on Griffin’s appearance I imagine it will be the highest ratings the show has ever had. One interesting argument on BBC Radio 4′s The Today Programme was raised by Ex London Mayor Ken Livingstone who said that his appear would undoubtedly raise racist attacks. The BBC defended this by stating that due to the party being elected seats in European parliament it had to respect its responsibility of due impartiality. Let the bear-baiting commence!
Question Time will broadcast on BBC1 this evening at 10:35pm.
Hello fellow bloggers
Hello, my name is Ross. I am a MA student at University College Falmouth, studying Multimedia Broadcast Journalism. Oooooerr, i hear you say. I am living in Penryn, but my home is Bristol. Well to be precise I am from North Bristol, in a town about 9 miles from the city centre. I recently graduated with a degree in English from UWE, Bristol. I am a Blogger virgin and am still trying to adapt myself to the idea that someone may want to read what I am writing!
