Parliament on tv by year-end

Debates in the Houses of Parliament should be broadcast over television and radio in an edited form by the end of this year. The Senate on Tuesday unanimously agreed to the private members motion by Independent Senator Prof Ramesh Deosaran. The motion, as amended, also agreed that a joint select committee of Parliament should be established to facilitate governmental action to this end before June 30, 2004. In his round up of the motion, Deosaran lectured Senators on what he thought the relationship between the media and politicians should be. He said the tension existing between the two estates was “sacred” and a measure of a healthy democracy. “They are not meant to be friends,” he said. The media, he added, should police itself.

He told Senators that the media chose what to publish to attract readers by following a law of supply and demand. For mass consumption, he noted, this could lead to the lowest common denominator in standards. “People have an appetite for mauvais langue.” He warned that the media’s role was not to publish everything said by Senators. Deosaran said: “They are watchdogs of Parliament.” The university lecturer continued explaining the media’s role: “Perhaps the time has come to move an illusion: It has nothing to do with educating a national community. It’s about news and entertainment.” He explained that the less likely something was to happen the more likely it became news. “A Senator is giving a brilliant speech — that’s not news. But the moment I mispronounce a word, say paradigm or...,” he said, glancing at Minister of Education, Hazel Manning, of ‘breakfasses’ infamy, to the amusement of all present. Deosaran said the media would not treat Senators as favourably as Senators would like, but that was okay because the media were watchdogs. “The public likes to see big people fall down; it’s almost pathological.”

He added: “The media has its job to do. The press has nothing to do about educating the national community; It’s a business, to make money out of mass consumption.”  Like Bush and Blair were learning, he said, politicians could not win a battle against the media. Deosaran warned the Government that they could be asking for trouble over its control of TTT. “You will be accused of all kinds of things of which you are not guilty. I would like to warn the Government about complete ownership of a media house.” He advised the Government to have an independent body overseeing TTT.