Friday, 27 September 2013

MISSED OPPORTUNITIES?





FORMER Labour Home Secretary David Blunkett MP has criticised broadcasters over poor subtitling for those of us who suffer from hearing loss or profound deafness. He has also complained that blind people are being frustrated by the lack of voice dubbing on some of the increasingly popular foreign television drama series.
 

Mr Blunkett is also on record as saying, “Broadcasters talk a lot about equality, but preaching is not enough. In an ageing population, people with hearing and sight impairments are becoming part of the mainstream. It’s no longer about a minority. We are a major sector of the viewing public, and we have the same rights as everyone else who pays the licence fee.



“The way TV executives worship the cult of youth these days seems to be an unstoppable fetish. It is the trendy, the metropolitan and the under-forties who determine what we view and what we listen to. However, much of today’s spending power reflects an older age group.”



Writing this Blog as one who has suffered significant and permanent hearing loss, I wholeheartedly agree with Mr Blunkett. The subtitles issue is a major problem. They’re not only unreliable, but they are also non-existent on some of today’s most watchable TV programming.  And I bet I’m not alone in claiming that far too many of today’s TV presenters, announcers, newsreaders and character actors resort to mumbling or jabbering indistinctly, as if they’re in a private one-to-one conversation.  Clearly, as Mr Blunkett suggests, the subtitles problem and the dubbing issue need to be addressed to take account of the ageing population.



That said: I believe Mr Blunkett has only scratched the surface here. These issues go much deeper than those who suffer aural or visual disabilities and, in doing so, they embrace the whole of the UK’s pensioner population.  In short, we older, more discerning viewers (and radio listeners) have been systematically deprived of our fair share of the TV and radio cake by an undignified scramble for younger and younger audiences. Yet younger people are already spoilt for viewing and/or listening choice.



Take, for example, the TV and radio alternatives available to them. First, there are personal computers, the internet, computerised games, iPods and on-line social networking. Then there’s pubbing and clubbing, and all manner of other activities that can keep them away from their TV screens and radios. Consequently, those elusive younger audiences that the TV and radio executives have been seeking for upwards of twenty years simply aren’t out there.
 

But that’s not the end of the story, because there IS a huge UK audience just waiting to be entertained. That’s you and me folks: pensioners! However, since the mid-1980s, we’ve been sacrificed on the altar of, not only the frantic search for younger audiences mentioned earlier, but also by Janet Street-Porter’s beloved 1980s “yoof culcha” movement. How ironic that Janet Street-Porter joined our pensioner ranks seven years ago!



Now, as if to add injury to insult, and allegedly in an attempt to boost its ratings, Channel 4 has launched a season of programmes about pornography. Hardly the kind of output to appeal to the older, more discerning viewer methinks. But, what an opportunity missed! If Channel 4 (or any other channel for that matter) looked beyond the confines of London or the other metropolitan areas, they would find a huge, untapped audience waiting patiently in the wings: the retired and elderly.

 
Surely the time is now right for a dedicated TV channel catering exclusively for the UK’s pensioners? And I’m not talking about endless re-runs of “Dad’s Army”, “The Last of the Summer Wine”, “As Time Goes By” or – God forbid – latter day soaps. No, there must be plenty of alternatives languishing in the archives that would not only entertain, but would evoke memories of a much more agreeable age and, in doing so, keep our brains alive. One programme that comes to mind is “Dixon of Dock Green”, but there must be many others.


"Evenin' all"

3 comments:

  1. Dixon of Dock Green was one of my favourite programmes I wish we had such good programmes now

    ReplyDelete
  2. Me too Anon: Thanks for your message. Do you remember "Emergency Ward Ten" and the "Perry Como Show" with the 'We Get Letters' feature? Also "Quatermass and the Pitt" and "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" All such memorable programmes. Some of them must be locked away in a dusty cupboard somewhere. How refreshing and evocative it would be to see them again. Think of it ... no foul language, no gratuitous violence and no explicit sex scenes! Compulsive, inoffensive, entertaining viewing or what?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I couldn't agree more David It is time we had subtitles as many of us are hard of hearing also today's announcers do not speak clearly There were and are some very good programmes The younger generation rarely listen to radio programmes and few are interested in some if the TV question and answer programmes Most of the audiences in the studios are middle to older people

    ReplyDelete