‘Foreign Correspondent’

Press, 26 October 1989, Page 13

‘Foreign Correspondent’

“Foreign Correspondent” tonight (8.30 on One) is all about television. The main feature is “Television: Revolution in a Box,” an A.B.C. news special. The explosion of the home video recorder market is having a marked effect on television news bulletins. Ordinary people on the spot are capturing historic pictures (the latest example is the San Francisco earthquake). But sometimes home-made videos pose dilemmas for network news chiefs — are they genuine? Are they part of a campaign to manipulate the media? The programme also reports on underground videos and how important they have become in political revolution, for instance in Poland and Chile. And from the Soviet Union; what the people see on television — whether glasnost extends to the airwaves, and how the politicians there are learning to copy the communicating skills of Ronald Reagan. There are two reports on television from Britain. The first examines claims that the British Government is cracking down on television journalists as never before. Censorship examples include the documentary, “Death on the Rock,” and a ban on interviews with Sinn Fein.

Finally, from 8.8. C. Newsnight, soap operas and their values to society. Often soaps like “Neighbours” can get across social messages that documentaries cannot Commentators urge TV networks to keep making local soaps, not just import them.