Government by TV?
It has been one of those months when the TV has not simply reported the news but has been making some of the biggest news headlines.
Channel 4 has been to the forefront. First it was surrounded in controversy as it defied calls to pull a programme featuring graphic images of the car crash which killed Princess Diana in Paris in 1997, despite this being requested by her sons. Then more trouble erupted as, for the second time, the Big Brother show broadcast racist language from one of the housemates. This time the Channel 4 chiefs took swift action and Emily Parr was dismissed from the programme.
Democracy and media
But perhaps we should take seriously the thought that it is the media which in a very real way always dictates the news. I am not just thinking of its editing of what is reported and what is not. (Much that goes on in the world, especially the persecution of Christians, fails to make the 6 O’Clock News.) My major thought is that there can be little doubt about the power of TV and radio to shape the thinking of the electorate and therefore of our democracy as a whole.
The re-emergence of heavy shepherds
What would you think if you received a letter from your church leaders that read like this? ‘Are church members …