The foreign teledrama melodrama

THE decision taken by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to appoint a special committee to draw up a permanent policy on telecasting patterns agreeable to all parties in State and private sector TV enterprises is a move in the right direction.

The President also requested all stakeholders in the industry to meet without delay and agree on a common denominator vis-à-vis programme content and present their submissions to the Committee.

The ultimate goal is to form a national policy on television broadcasting in the country. The President told television heads who met him on Friday at Temple Trees to air their grievances over the prosed levy on imported films and teledramas.

The President has decided to suspend the proposed levy until an overall solution is worked out on programme selection.

What the President underlined at these discussions was that such a crisis would not have arisen if all stakeholders worked to a common agenda, operating within specific parameters. He spoke of the need to compromise.

The President also referred to cheap imports which pass out as popular TV fare and spoke of the responsibility of the Government to protect cultural values and indigenous norms.

In this regard, the President is not far off the mark. Certain imported programmes particularly the dubbed variety are an insult to the intelligence of the decerning viewer but with their gimmickry and theme content have succeeded in swaying a majority of TV households.

We are not here for a moment passing judgement on the merits of these programmes. Besides in a free country the choice rests with the public.

But the line should be drawn somewhere especially when such programmes run counter to our indigenous values and customs. In this regard the State channels too are not entirely without fault. This is the reason for the President's request for all stakeholders to meet and reach a consensus.

There is no gainsaying that television today has become the mainstay of public entertainment with acute competition between rival channels.

This fierce competition may have also compelled some TV stations to go overboard in the choice of programme content. What with a saturated sponsorship market the buck becomes the buzz word which tends to blur one's vision.

One could argue that any viewer has the freedom to enjoy even trash dished out on the idiot box. There is a line of thought that freedom of choice is paramount in an open economy.

But the consequence of the hold a powerful medium such as TV could have on the impressionable mind cannot be fathomed. It could sway an entire generation to empathise with alien practices and cultures and make them lose their national consciousness. It is this that was the underlining concern of the President.

The President also made the pertinent observation on the impact these programmes have on the local productions and artistes. Its larger bearing on the local film industry too was referred to. Being a grassroots politician, it is only natural that the President evinced concern for the local dimension.

However, much needs to be done to revive the collapsed film industry. While removal of all impediments to the growth of the local film industry is laudable concrete action is needed to push this once prime entertainment into the limelight. Pouring scorn on foreign telecasts alone would not suffice.

We should get our act together and improve quality of the local films and teledramas and make them more attractive to the public so that they would be weaned away from imported potboilers.

There have been many discussions and proposals to rebuild the ailing film industry over the years but no headway has been made.

Today we see more and more cinema halls being pulled down and converted to business premises. No effort has been made to reconstruct some 200 cinemas burnt during Black July exactly 23 years ago.

Ideally this move by the President should see a sea change in all fronts of our local entertainment industry.
