Last Saturday, Channel four broadcasted a two hour special with Gordon Ramsey. In this program, The Great British Nightmare, Ramsey tries to save restaurants that are doomed to turn into disasters. Ofcom, media regulator, has complained about the intensity of swearing in this channel four show. In the first 40 minutes the word “fuck “ featured more than a 100 times.
Gordon Ramsey is known for his creative vocabulary concerning foul words. It must be said that not only Ramsey was guilty of the cannonade but other participants in the show also commonly used the word in different varieties.
Ofcom was especially worried about the time the show was broadcasted, 9 pm. Even though the show was broadcasted after the 9pm watershed, viewers were not prepared for the intensity of language. Channel four made clear that perhaps they should have broadcasted the show later in the evening but they also state that viewers who are familiar with Ramsey could have known what to expect.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/may/11/gordon-ramsay-ofcom-swearing
Reaction:
It seems that nowadays cursing on television or radio is becoming a regular event. In the case of Gordon Ramsey it is not a surprise when he uses sentences that are expletive-littered. The bigger surprise is that it is broadcasted on national and international television. Ramsey is not the only one whose guilty of it. When watching a television program such as Live At The Apollo there is also a lot of foul language used. The one million dollar question is; should this be monitored and prevented? In the article Ofcom only complains about the usage of excessive language in the Ramsey show. In other cases, concerning presenters from the BBC , Ofcom had taken sanctions. So the other question is; Should a media regulator, such as Ofcom, make a distinction between Public and commercial television?
No comments:
Post a Comment