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| Monday, 03 February 2003 |
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Letters | |
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Overseeing public entertainment Enjoyment is one of the instincts of human beings. It facilitates getting over or minimising the effects of suffering which is inevitable in our lives. With the spread of TV facilities in this country over the last two decades the business of entertainment has escalated providing direct and indirect employment to tens of thousands of persons and handsome incomes to many organisations and artistes. There has also been the good and bad effects on society. Therefore, those involved have to be constantly reminded that all forms of entertainment should not go off the rails of decency and that tendencies to violence and obscenity should be eliminated in the performances for the public. It is indeed praiseworthy that many creators and artistes have been rendering services in certain programmes of drama, song, dancing, music and humour to contain such evils as hatred, arrogance, avarice and social inequalities and, most importantly, to curb internecine conflicts, which arose from fallacious concepts of superiority in status of any one ethnic group over some other one. Accordingly, human values have been upheld to override petty political or sectional interests, which have insidiously been promoted by propaganda of unscrupulous elements. It is suggested that a regulatory board should be established for overseeing public entertainment programmes. The board should consist of a few men and women directors drawn from politically independent, liberal, knowledgeable and selfless persons. The participation of women in the directorate has to be ensured to represent adequately the interests of the sex and children who form the majority of the population. A considerable number of women and children are victims of exploitation of some form or other and are languishing in silence. One of the aims of the projected board would be not to stifle creativity, talent and enterprise, which are prerequisites to moving away from Conservatism. The structure, scope and the actual performance of the existing Public Performances Board (PPB) will necessarily have to be reviewed vis-a-vis the board proposed in the above paragraph so that there will not be duplication, friction and wastage of national effort. It appears that periodical reports on the working of the PPB have not been made known to the public through the courtesy of the media. Legislative measures will have to be taken into consideration in regard to suggestions made above. Nevertheless, legislation alone would not be a remedy to the ills of our time unless public awareness is created on the gravity involved for a change of heart in the approach to matters of interest of the entire nation. Thus lies a field for utilisation of expertise in propaganda. D. KURUNERU-Moratuwa
The General Manager of Railways and his Chief Engineer (Way & Works) are cautioned of the prevailing condition of the railway track in the proximity of the railway bridge at Duwamodara, Kosgoda in the coastline. The existing space between the rail track and the riverbank is minimal and so narrow that at any time another mishap is likely whilst a train passes through this extent of approximately 40 metres of the rail line. The river has reached so close to the track and is not clearly visible as the stretch is covered with wild creepers. The rail communication wire posts along the track are leaning towards the riverbank and it's a clear indication to assess the danger to the rail track too. Railway Engineers and Inspectors of permanent way used to patrol the rail line in the Motor trolleys and too in hand manipulating trolleys (Dakkus) frequently to ascertain the condition of the track and why they failed to notice this danger yet is regrettable. G.M.R. and the Chief Engineer (Way & Works) should personally visit the site and appraise the gravity of the danger and should take remedial measures to avoid threat to the rail track. Failure to do so may lead to another mishap of similar nature of rather grievous to the incident, which occurred at Rambukkana a year ago. Perhaps the vibration resulting in the fast movement of a train through this passage in the prevailing condition, few compartments or the whole train may plunge into the river dismantling the sleepers and rails and the Railway Department will be liable to face the repercussions. Railway Engineers too can follow how the stretch along the highway in the same vicinity secured and settled by depositing boulders and rubble and red soil and how further widened and reclaimed the space along the riverside when the new road bridge at the site was in progress recently. I wish the G.M.R. and C.E.W. will take notice of this grievous situation and hurry to reclaim and thoroughly settle the washed passage along the river bank of the track with a view to avert another calamity in the future. N. W. SIRISENA-Nugegoda
Watching television has become the most popular form of entertainment in Sri Lanka, though majority of programmes telecast at present fail to notch up to the expected norms. This is further aggravated by the indiscreet manner in which advertisements are interspersed in programmes to get maximum mileage for sponsors and advertisers. Such a situation has become predominant due to the total absence of criteria or standards adopted in regulating television advertising. Non existence of consumer protection societies and similar bodies with government affiliation in this country has provided vast freedom for advertisers to use this medium totally to their advantage with no restrictions at all. They simply can use any gimmicks or strategies to dupe viewers, often with exaggerated, or even with false facts as it often happens, about the products they promote. The other significant fact about indiscreet advertising is the manner in which the message is given, which in many instances have no pertinence at all to the product advertised. Unlike in the print medium, this effect stands out well in electronic medium, especially when it is visual, exposing the absurdity about the disparity in presentation of facts. Many advertising clips currently shown on television have no semblance to the products they are meant to promote but can only be judged as an indiscriminate round up of living and inanimate objects to drum up attention. In some instances, this is so farcical as to make someone baffle over the sort of relation the product has with the commercial they see. In no other instance advertising is made to annoy people than at the time of viewing tele-dramas. It is obvious that tele-dramas take precedence in popularity of television programmes. When advertisements are made to flash in quick succession in between an episode, it tends to dilute the story due to continuous distraction caused. Obviously almost all who watch tele-dramas have the unpleasant experience of annoyance caused by the manner in which commercial breaks are lined up. This often happens if a tele-drama has gripping story. When the feedback of such is promising, the station which beams such a story is confident that it is being watched by a wide audience and inundate it with as many advertisements as possible. The other torture is the repetition of the same commercial in quick succession, sometimes thrice in a row! What can be understood of this is that it is only meant for morons, as any intelligent person can grasp a message without being forced to see the same for a number of times. In no way this practice would be profitable, as it only creates displeasure in viewers, rather than making them pleased. This situation can be conveniently overcome if different clips on the same product is introduced, if more emphasis is expected for a product. Showing the same thing over and over only makes viewers feel sick. Many stations which currently telecast popular tele-dramas have earned the wrath of the audience due to long insensible commercial breaks they insert in weekly episodes. One such example is Randoli brought on by Swarnavahini at 9 p.m. on Thursdays. It says an exquisite story, but unfortunately, after a few picture frames, all what the audience see is a confounded commercial break which normally carries more than 15 advertisements! The viewers simply forget what they have just seen due to the story being overridden by commercials. When the next few frames come, viewers have to make the coherence themselves by tying them up with what they have seen last, but only to be slumped back to the next absurd stream of ads that comes in its wake. This happens at least four to five times during the short slot allocated for the story. All in all, what the audience sees in Randoli is more product promotion than story. In fact, the story is only a thin slice of delectable meant in an oversized club sandwich of insipid commercials! The survival of television stations depend heavily on commercials. At the same time, television without advertising is something like Christmas without Santa Claus. Commercials add spice to programmes, but as in culinary art, overuse of spices would kill the taste than adding zest to food. It is apparent that many of the popular programmes are keenly sponsored by manufacturers who will not spend a small fortune if it would not bring back the expected returns. What is important here is the manner in which their interests are looked after by those who are in contract with them in bringing their message across. This should be obviously done in a discreet manner without any loss to sponsored, but sans annoyance to millions of spectators as well. The success of maintaining this difficult equilibrium is the efficiency of a television station. In a country where there is much less entertainment for people, television effectively bridges this gap with a variety of programmes delivered right into one's dining room at the minimum of cost. However, this does not justify people to be inconvenienced with an overdose of commercials each time they enjoy this facility. The effective solution to this is to have an independent body vested with power to regulate advertising, so that veracity and proper balance can be successfully maintained not only on television, but also in all media in which they are made to appear. This is an urgent need, neglected for a long time. Manil Gunawardene
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