I wrote a few months ago of the complete waste of time and money that is Teachers TV, but flicking through my Sky channels this evening I was reminded that there is a Channel that is almost as pointless as Teachers TV. This Channel is The Community Channel.
The Community Channel is funded by the Government, via the cabinet office, and runs well meaning programmes all day about colunteering and raising money for charity miced in with programmes about how you chould exercise regularly and keep fit. The Community Channel is, in many ways, a " Nanny State "Channel, telling you what to do to live out the rose tinted life that the government would wish us all to live.
The problem is that the Community Channel is dull, dull, dull.
I looked at their lineup and noticed some interviews with some interesting people hosted by that chap of Channel Four news, but then I discovered that the Big Issue founder, Tannii Grey-Thompson and the other people were all just going to be asked about volunteering. Oh dear.
Who would want to watch tedious documentaries all day about this kind of stuff ? Don't people who want to volunteer just get on with it anyway ? Would anyone who is not interested in volunteering sit and watch a tedious channel about volunteering anyway ?
I'm sure the Channel is well meaning and we all appreciate the vital role that charities and volunteering plays in out lives, but I am yet to be convinced that a TV Channel devoted to this subject is needed. If it were needed, then it might be cheaper and more practical to make it an Internet TV station.
The Community Channel, like Teachers TV is the very worst kind of government trying to use TV as a form of soft propaganda, and due to both channel's dreadfully boring output, they prove to be a complete waste of tax payers money.
3 comments:
These channels do at least make Price Drop and Bid TV look like fun.
Teachers' TV is actually a really useful resource for a lot of the staff in my school. In the staffroom, we see it not as government propaganda, but as a time-saving approach to CPD, and at times a really inspiring watch. Far from boring. I wonder if you've actually bothered to watch it?
I have had no great reason to watch Teachers TV as I choose when I am not makring books, preparing lessons, etc, not to be watching a TV channel about what I have just been doing.
The point is that the good elements of Teachers could be sent out on DVD for less than the cost of running the channel.
You use it in staff meetings, etc, good, but why does it needs to be on TV 24-7 to achieve this ?
Post a Comment