No morality in this tale
July 23, 2025
There’s no moral in this story because, of course, it is about television. For as long as it has been around there have been moral panics about TV, as in ‘does what it puts on screen erode the moral fibre of a nation?’
As the word panic implies, the answer is, generally, no. Nowadays even the most degenerate TV seems like a prayer meeting compared to what anyone can find online. So, TV content gets a free pass.
How about the business of TV? The behind the camera action? Well, here morality is still taking a kicking. Okay, TV isn’t arms dealing, but in the TV business the mix of fame, money and rampant ambition can be a toxic mix for individuals and corporations alike.
Cases in point: The BBC is rightly held to a high standard as it receives its funds from a tax on all citizen’s households. If you disapprove if its behaviour you can boycott it, but you cannot stop paying for it. The Jimmy Saville scandal already used all the BBC’s legacy trust but, if it had learned the lessons, it could at least begin to rebuild that trove. But… most recently we’ve had the Huw Edwards scandal – a star news anchor paid big six figures to read out loud turns out to have been a pervy picture collector and payer of rent boys. The BBC still hasn’t even managed to recoup the money he was paid while put on leave.
And now we have the MasterChef ‘affair’ – to give it an elan it does not earn. Both presenters offed for bad behaviour but, we now learn, they will feature on primetime in the series that was already in the can. It’s because the contestants would be disappointed, not because it is a big earner for the corporation – and, let’s face it, a lot more people will tune into this series.
Meanwhile in the US, Paramount has settled a frankly silly lawsuit from Trump, whining about unfair treatment of the candidates in the election. It is the kind of thing any self-respecting media company would be lucky to receive so that they could fight it and reveal its pathetic partisanship. That is unless that corporation needed to suck up to the Administration to get its merger with Skydance approved. A handful of honourable execs have left rather than stomach this.
Finally, the moral showdown between the aforesaid almost octogenarian POTUS, and the nonagenarian, once real ruler of the world, KRM – or Rupert to his friend. In the morality stakes it is the Boston Strangler takes on Jack the Ripper. Trump is trying to say ‘nothing to see here’ in the Epstein files – can’t think why? Murdoch’s Wall St Journal alleges he signed a lewd message to Epstein, and wants the files revealed. Cue $10 billion lawsuit from Trump. This one should be fun – KRM has $10 billion – Trump doesn’t – he’s over 90 years old and, presumably, hasn’t figured out how to take it with him. Pass the popcorn.
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