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Comunicar Journal 25: Quality Television (Vol. 13 - 2005)
The citizen’s interest for in the TV contents: the new TV actors
Gloria Rosique-Cedillo
Since its very beginning television has always had the contents as an angular stone, basic source composing the wire netting of programmes that move the audio-visual sector, due that the interest of various actors of communication, State, announcers, TV chains and producers turn around them and on the other hand, they have been also the cultural product that the spectators have been receiving since decades in their homes.
Nowadays in the landscape of television environment we talk about «quality of TV programmes» and «values», there is discontent between certain groups regarding a TV which operates in a flexible way when it comes to contents, there is a commercial over-exploitationand a regulation which is considered very laxby the Government; the discrepancies come guided through the mobilization of the groups of spectators and organizations of allcommunities of the country who bet for an alternative TV, creative and with certain values, as UNESCO says «an universal, educational and permanent system» , who can divert in designing a new regime of TV regulation regarding contents where enter the interests of all actors, including spectators that take part of the value of the visual, production andthe audio-visual contents together with traditional actors of communication.
Years ago the civil society represented by the associations of spectators, TV critics,pedagogues, writers, ONG’s including professionals of the TV media claim the quality of the contents of the small screen, an organism to control and oversee the behaviour of the programmers and directors of the TV chanels, besides the compliance of the regulation.
Considered that nowadays TV is the most influent way of communication all over the world and the Spanish society makes no exception, obviously we need to take care of the impact that contents generate in the open television and , most of all, take care of what they emit during the timetablemore accessible to children and teenagers, being a very powerful instrument for the world’s media development, its management manipulated in favour of the market interest or mercenary groups of the screen (garbage TV producers), is giving very good results for what developed and democratic societies wait from television.
Church, family, school and State show, from various attitudes and corners of society, discontent regarding the negative effectsthat TV is generating in different sectors of population, but , besides this, they generate the doubt that the actual regulation of administration of television (public or private) is the most appropriate in guaranteeingthe public interest in making creative andconstructive TV, according to the points of view ofcertain spectators, in meantime theyproject the idea of having other ways of administration that cancomplete and strengthen a way of alternative television.
Considering this the television contents are of public interest and the TV production oscillate between innovation, creativity, technological development and «TV garbage», we would like to approach the actual panorama of the TV contents out valuing the activities of the citizen’s participation, aims and success, like an actor inside the value chain of the audio-visual sector and its role inside it.
This will definitely lead to an alternative TV, still difficult to define and also favours the revision of the theory of Medias and opens new discussions about paradigms used to explain the social phenomenon of communication and the function of the spectator reported to the environment.
Keywords
Generally open television, entertainment contents, TV-trash, citizenship