Sandro II Terrorista wrote:I don't have SKY, I don't watch much TV.
I recently stayed at a friends house that does for about eight weeks.
I noticed this documentary section, I didn't find any documentaries, just awful infotainment.
There have been some excellent documentaries made over the last few years, such as "Blackfish" , but they don't seem to play on these channels.
What is SKY for, and why do people pay for it?
There's an old saying which goes something like - "The news is what's written on the back of advertisements" . And one of the most important rules in the news industry is - "Never upset your sponsors".
The truth is both apply equally to TV programming (as well as the movie business). It's the reason investigative journalism has withered on the vine. After all, you won't last long in the industry if after taking a $5 million dollar advertising cheque from Coca Cola two of your journalists then write a story about how the very same company intimidates union activists etc.
Blackfish is a decent documentary. It's also precisely the kind of serious muckraking the makers of SKY and other satellite and cable broadcasters have absolutely no wish to pursue.
Although, it's interesting to note that Discovery recently ran a pretty militant short series on Greenpeace activists fighting Japanese whalers in the South Atlantic. It's the only overtly political show I can ever recall on any satellite channel. I was surprised that it aired at all and only did so because there is no chance whatsoever of any blowback in Europe or America where whaling is not a political issue. It goes without saying that it will never see the light of day on Japanese TV.
Still, I reckon there was much heated debate about whether to broadcast in the UK - not least because it might make people ask why all other forms of political activism are verboten on satellite.
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and often admit to a complete bust on their trips out.