Twin peeks

A glance at the clips shown during news bulletins, besides showing us that there is still a long way to go before the Data Protection Act starts being respected, also shows us something that is perhaps worse.

There are several instances when, on worksites, little or no safety gear is seen being worn, apart from hardhats perched jauntily upon heads, when they ought to be jammed down on foreheads. There is no visible ear protection in places of high-decibel noise pollution; no safety shoes or gloves where there is high vibration or other dangers; people working at heights without safety harnesses; no visors or safety glasses where there are chemicals likely to spill and splash... the list is endless.

The memory of the drama surrounding the historical documentary by Professor Henry Frendo and Dr Mark Fenech is still fresh in everybody's minds, combined with the fact that Mr John Camilleri did not have 'second thoughts' about reversing Professor Dominic Fenech's decision.

This week, I happened to catch Storja ta' Poplu on Net television, which is of the same genre.

Now I have it on good authority that whereas PBS newscasters are actually supposed to look 'like that' i.e. deadpan, what goes on at One and at Net is supposed to balance out. Yet, as far as I am concerned, this documentary, albeit presenting the truth, was excessively over the top in the way the same clips were shown more than once, and in the wording of a part of the commentary. One hopes that 'balance' here will not entail One coming up with their own serialisation of another wedge of history.

While on the subject of history, one of my correspondents has been engaged in trying to get the PBS newsroom to alter the word guri, in connection with the Lockerbie case, from the very moment it started being used. A jury, he says, is a judicial process wherein one is judged by peers or others. In the Lockerbie case, there was none of this. The same thing goes for Saddam Hussein's trial, also being billed as a guri in Malta, and PBS put the icing on the cake when in a recent paedophilia case, the news script read guri minghajr gurati, since the accused chose not to be tried by a jury.

The writer suggests process gudizzjarju or process kriminali, rather than guri. Just for the record, even One used guri, but Net did actually use the former term.

Does this type of error fall under the "language guidelines" that were mooted some time ago, or is it just Manglish and bad syntax that are covered?

Meanwhile, I am amazed at the number of people who expect me to make phonecalls or send e-mails on their behalf to television stations in general, or presenters in particular, or even the Broadcasting Authority, 'because it is my job'.

One thing I did ask about was the terrible interference on Radju Malta 93.7FM and 999MW frequencies. On all my radio sets, and even through the di-ve portal, I lept getting thre eqibalent of old-time television "rice", and the occasional smattering of Italian. When contacted, PBS said that repairs were being carried out at the Gharghur station. And about time, too: people have been grumbling about reception for a long, long time.

I was under the impression that Maltese television had 9 p.m. as the watershed time beyond which children were not supposed to watch television for fear of being exposed to violence or sex, or get to listen to adult content of discussions. The news, of course, does not count.

With alcohol, the boundaries are rather fuzzier - as well they would be. According to the Broadcasting Authority, alcohol may not be advertised between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. This excludes 'merely' sipping wine as at a tasting. Advertising here includes product placement as well as in-your-face promotions. Whereas you cannot advertise wine within the aforementioned timeframe, an oenologist, a vintner, and related experts may give, well, illustrated talks.

Last Tuesday, when John Demanuele and his guests, who included connoisseurs Donald Caligari and Josef Bonello, on 118, were enjoyably quaffing Sirius. There were promotions for sponsors' wines as par for the course in each spot. Children could, then, reasonably have been expected to be still watching television.

I had so far refrained from mentioning the tiny fact that wine bottles - and glasses - are on the table, with occasional close-ups as a reminder to us that these are part of the casually sophisticated ambience imparted by the set-up.

It annoys me when guests in a programme try to sample whatever is being concocted, and this is comparable to that, if not worse. When there used to be a repeat of other programmes, way back, in the mornings, the adverts for aperitifs and wines were always pulled, perhaps because it was assumed that children who would not have gone to school would watch them.

Children tend to gravitate towards l-Ispjun, too; so the idea behind L-Ispjun Live Network was a laudably wise decision of Watermelon. As of January 31, broadcasts will be live from the House, between the aforementioned watershed hours, that children be safeguarded from potentially damaging or offensive material. This is because there is no parallel station (as Magic is to Radju Malta) where this could air. The live programme every Wednesday and the edited 10-minute daily slots, however, will continue.

It's really nice to know, anyway, that some experts are "available biex ikunu jistghu ikunu disponibbli". This means that in the course of one week we can hear conflicting theories such as (i) coffee may save you form getting a heart attack/coffee makes you jittery; (ii) this treatment will vacuum up whiteheads and blackheads/do not tamper with whiteheads and blackheads; (iii) fight for your rights tooth and nail/always be meek...

Relax: if you want to try your luck at winning a brilliant Opel Corsa, then watch Quiz tomorrow...