TV presents culture ‘that is not our own’

Press, 26 February 1980, Page 15

TV presents culture ‘that is not our own’

A survey by the Dune-din-based television monitoring group,- Monitor Incorporated, late last year has revealed that United States-made programmes heavily dominated viewing time »on both channels in New Zealand.

For Television One the figures were: United States, 14.15 hours; United Kingdom, 4.45 hours; and New Zealand, 3.15 hours. For South Pacific Television, it was United States, 12 hours; United Kingdom 3 hours; ' and New Zealand, 5 hours.' In its latest newsletter, Monitor reports that no assurance was given by the Broadcasting Corpora-

tion at a meeting on November 1 that the American content would be reduced when the merger takes effect next week. Monitor was concerned that the quality of most of the American programmes was not good; that because they, were

designed for a mass market they had a “certain blandness” and offered little to children. Monitor also told the heads of the Broadcasting Corporation that New Zealand children were continually being presented with a culture that was nqt their own. Monitor said that there were ■ not enough programmes from countries

other than the United States and the United Kingdom. The corporation replied that there was difficulty in finding good programmes from outside the English-speaking world because of the difficulty and expense of dubbing or adding an English commentary. The corporation was also quoted as saying that many European-made programmes were unsuitable for New Zealand audiences. Monitor’s president (Mr R. Hall) says in an editorial in the newsletter that many of the requests made by Monitor in November were already being considered or had been anticipated. Mr Hall said that the biggest disappointments were the lack of commitment to children’s drama and the lack of commitment to minority cultures, interests such as reading, and to music other than “pop.”