Viewfinder
Positive and negative role models on TV
By Nestor Torre
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 19:01:00 03/10/2008
Filed Under: Television, Entertainment (general)
MANILA, Philippines—Some TV people think that the television screen is just an extension of their own homes, living rooms, bedroom, and even bathrooms!—and behave accordingly: They act and talk like they do at home, behaving with impunity and forgetting that TV images set both positive and negative examples for many viewers, especially the impressionable youth.
It’s high time, therefore, that viewers remind our TV personalities of both the perks and responsibilities that come with their “glamorous” job.
First, the upbeat possibilities: Responsible TV people set a great example when they do their work competently and professionally, when they start and level their programs on time, when they treat their guest with respect, they speak and act intelligently, and help viewers learn more, enjoy the entertainment they provide, and become better people.
Influential medium
Young viewers benefit a lot from these positive examples, because they learn that, in all spheres of work, competence and respect for others are prime considerations. They also realize that television is an important and influential medium that deserves the best work, because its effect on many people are vast.
On the other hand, quite a number of TV people use the medium to suit their purposes and boost their stock with the public, rather than focusing on serving its millions of viewers.
More specifically, TV personalities become negative role models for young viewers when:
They say anything and do everything that come to mind, no matter how lazy, irresponsible or gross.
They talk too much about themselves and their relatives, what they own, wear and covet etc., even when viewers aren’t interested in all those self-serving details.
They treat guests badly, exploiting their physical flaws for cheap tawdry humor, regarding female guests or contestants, as sex objects, poking fun at the elderly or people who speak with heavy regional accents, etc.
They boast about their expensive possessions, like jewelry, couture fashions, and designer handbags, goading viewers to also develop a highly materialistic outlook, despite the hard times that many Filipinos are experiencing.
Time considerations
They start their programs late, showing that they don’t respect viewers’ time considerations. They worry more about how they look rather than what they say. Some newscasters obviously don’t bother to arrive at the studio early enough to review their news texts, and thus make mistakes during their newscasts.
Others are less than objective news readers, semaphoring their reactions with distracting facial expressions. Some don’t even speak all that well, opting for an artificially masa sound, adding “echoing” sounds at the ends of words, or even talking “through” their nose.
Why do they feel they can get away with it? Because they can—since many viewers here are too meek to make a fuzz over “little details.”
Well, if we want to see some of our TV people go from negative to positive role models, that’s what we should do: speak up, our TV people need our feedback to complete the communication cycle.
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