TV merchandise
Sir: Yet again Paul Johnson (26 June) calls for free market considerations to dominate television programmes. Can he really be serious? As a form of communication television is surely the most dramatic, com- pulsive, influential, determinative and powerful ever devised; is he really asserting that it should be left exclusively in the hands of those whose primary concern is to propagate consumerism?
Are we to have no relief from this potent form of mischief which would foist upon us an entire system of values which is already in triumphant conflict with traditional stan- dards of morality? Does the savagery of the assault it has already mounted on the natural tolerances of the eco-systems of our biosphere ring no bells with Mr Johnson? Does the increasing immiseration of third world countries which the application of such values is helping to promote touch his conscience not even a little?
For all its defects the BBC sets standards of service which are not only their own commendation, but the envy of viewers and listeners in many other countries where commercialisation holds sway, and whatever grounds there may be in the BBC for Mr Johnson's current 'reds under the bed' panic he should not be unmindful that Eastern precepts, which outdate his own Christianity by many centuries, are dispos- ed to put the merchant class third in order of precedence, the fourth being the un- touchables.
John Papworth 24 Abercorn Place,
London NW8
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