Television
Man v.
monitor
Alexander Chancellor
Who needs referees or umpires any more? Television cameras do their job much better and make fools of them in the process. Millions of television viewers all over the world could see last Sunday that the amazing Diego Maradona had knocked the ball into goal with his hand. This was when he scored the first of Argentina's two goals which secured them victory over England in the World Cup quarter-finals in Mexico City. Even if Maradona's handling of the ball was not immediately obvious, it became so afterwards when the BBC's cameras re-played it in slow motion from various angles. By then, there was nothing to be done. The Tunisian referee and his Bulgarian and Costa Rican sidekicks had accepted the goal as valid. The result would have seemed grossly unfair were it not for the fact that Argentina played much better than England and therefore morally deserved to win.
The same sort of thing happens un- failingly at Wimbledon each year, when television viewers can often see much better than the linesman whether a ball is in or out. But the decisions of these fallible human beings remain final. It is really rather absurd. If they can have photo- finishes in horse-racing, why cannot con- troversies in other sports be settled by re- ference to the television monitor? It would be considered unsporting, I suppose.
With the World Cup, Wimbledon and international cricket all coinciding, these have been bad times for television viewers who are uninterested in sport. They have been bad times for patriots too. Defeat in the World Cup was followed by defeat by India in the Test series, and defeat at Wimbledon is always a certainty in ad- vance. On Monday I had planned to stay up to watch Barry McGuigan beat the hell out of Steve Cruz, the American challen- ger for the world featherweight title, hop- ing this would do something for morale. But in the event I was too tired and went to bed. A good thing too, as this proved yet another defeat. 'I boxed bad,' said poor, saintly Barry as he was carried away on a stretcher, and his trusting friends and relations, whom I saw on breakfast televi- sion that morning, looked considerably more dazed and beaten than he dill.
Apart from sport, there has really been very little on television to watch. On Monday night Channel 4 concluded a series about the issues involved in televi- sion broadcasting called Open the Box. The final programme was about the power of television to corrupt by showing scenes of violence and, through advertising, by persuading people to buy things they do not want. A couple of suitably roguish stunt arrangers explained how they bought fresh offal from the butcher to substitute for blown-out brains. An 'expert' argued that television commercials promoted theft by making people fall in love with luxury products they could not obtain by any other means. Another 'expert' deplored the sex differentiation in the advertising of children's toys, because it turned little boys against dolls and little girls against things like meccano sets.
It was, however, a more entertaining programme than the one which followed immediately after it — yet another ex- amination of broadcasting values, this time of the responsibilities of public service broadcasters.
Panorama (BBC1) on Monday, entitled `Message to Maggie', was about unease within the Conservative Party. The mes- sage was not particularly clear. There are, it appears, many Tory supporters who would prefer more spending on public services than tax cuts. But then there are also, it appears, many others who would like her to carry on in the same old way. An opinion poll among Conservatives showed that their favourite to succeed her as party leader is Mr Norman Tebbit, with Mr Michael Heseltine coming a poor second, which would perhaps indicate that the latter are in the majority. The pro- gramme included the inevitable interview with Mr Jeffrey Archer praising the skill and professionalism of the Labour Party in the presentation of its policies. I don't know why he thinks this line is a vote- winner.
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