The Current State of Australian Television

 So it is Sunday.

An afternoon to turn to trivial things.

Eatery reviews these days are within an environment post Covid that has to deal with rising rentals, lack of staff, increasing costs of electricity and ingredients and a shrinking eat out market that has to grapple with continuing inflation.  Definitely not trivial.

So I shall turn my attention to the devastating state of free to air television across Australia these days.   Shrinking numbers watch such screens, as wi-fi induced streams and portable anytime diversions attract the competition.

Commercial stations have become more obviously the advertising behemoths that they essentially are.   Ad time is longer and more often.   Proper programmes are definitely after thoughts in these wagons of on screen sales inducers.   And the ads lack imagination, creativity and finesse.   Becoming more uncouth, do ads reflect the mindsets of evolving society in general, or just of the paid creators themselves?

Channel 10 Australia is wholly owned by CBS, part of the American Paramount group, which has merged with Bytedance.
Channel 7 is owned by Kerry Stokes based in Perth.  Channel Nine is part of Nine Network Holdings, owned by the Australian Packer family, the Murdochs and Bruce Gordon of WIN television.

Advertorials are blatantly put down our viewing sensibilities as if they underestimate the intelligence of whatever audience tv still has.   The morning and breakfast shows have followed a formula for over fifty years, first tried in the USA.

Peculiar obsessions of Australian television  are game shows, quizzes and participants driven by cash prizes.   The British and American dominance on the presentation and styles of such shows is evident even in the separately produced Australian versions.  At times, people can watch the foreign version in the early afternoon, followed by the Aussie set in the early evening.

And this leads to the next point.  The domestication of tv programming in Australia has reached one of the lowest points. We are being overswamped by American and British content every day and every night.  At times, I mistakenly think I reside in Leceister or Ohio when I tune on to "Australian" television.

Road accidents, shootings, weather episodes and more are generously sprinkled in news bulletins here - but they are all happening in the UK, Canada and the USA.  By a quirky coincidence, I do however find that very little is reported about New Zealand, a neighbour of Australia.

Although Australia geographically is situated in the Asia Pacific, there is relatively little content about Asia on Australian tv.   The exception is when Asia is mentioned littered with negative matters - a flood, a protest, a collapse, a political quake or a problem.   Rare these days on Australian tv are broadcasts of improving infrastructure, standard of living and cultures of the Asian region ( which is economically the fastest growing in the world).

In recent years, on the other hand, there has been wider presentation of television by SBS addressed to the interests and sensitivities of Indigenous Australians.

Live telecasts of key sports events have been a key landmark of free to air Australian television, but these have been eroded by pay streaming apps.

Australian tv in the past thirty years has achieved successes like her versions of imports like Masterchef - or in originals like Bluey.   Do not even remind me of Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, Neighbours and other classics from a forgotten past.
What happened?   Australia has become location wise a much cheaper place to produce American movies and that has had implications, especially when Aussie talent has moved Stateside as well.

Moving on, the expanded number of HD channels relegated to each Australian free to air station did not translate into more quality offerings.   Quantity did not translate into quality.   There are more repeats, shows dredged from the past and a startling absence of live presentations.
Having 24 hour transmissions has brought in endless shopping shows that drains us of meaningful watching.

An interesting trend of flagging audio only radio channels on television is only diluting the magic and uniqueness of television's future.   More news bulletins on television from  noon to dinner time has not had much return, especially when anyone can read the latest news readily anytime from the internet.

There is a declining availability of live music shows.  Food themed cooking shows in 2025 are mainly imports.   And the strong television obsession with weather updates is most intriguing.

On to the taxpayer funded tv channels.
Financial cuts by the Coaltion ruled Canberra Federal Government from around 13 years ago  has seen evident
deterioration in programming of SBS and ABC.    Both channels have resorted to providing streamed in news bulletins around the world, but seemingly of USA allied nations, as time fillers especially overnight and during  mornings.  

There is a high propensity of documentaries, detective dramas and politically compliant presentations on both ABC and SBS.   Bright spots perhaps can be in the continued funding for 4 Corners on Monday nights, satirical Charlie Pickering's The Weekly,  Gardening Australia at the end of the working week, the very observant Media Watch, Podcast styled If You're Listening and two servings per week of  Planet America on ABC News.

I recall the days when Aussies living abroad could follow up on things happening back home on the ABC tv service overseas - but has that gone too?

Certain quarters across Australian society have remarked upon the increasing politicisation of news bulletin content across both commercial and tax payer funded channels.   It depends on who calls the shots behind each station.

I try to be realistic that television is a trivial matter - but is it truly?  

#yongkevthoughts

All On That Device

 Why do we continue to put all our eggs in one basket - cyberspace and the smart mobile phone?

Portability, accessibility and convenience.  The days of having to reach a specified physical location to work on a database or effect significant transactions is now so passe. 

The transportability of human beings, the expectation of being able to whizz from one city to the next and the presumption of instantaneous response in more matters has lulled many into the use of wifi connected device dependability.

Answers are expected - and delivered - in a jiffy.  Gone is the opportunity to truly reflect or think about a complex or delicate matter.   Replies are given by a click or instant messaging.   There is increasingly no vocal communication or discussion.

Gone can be the better understanding and exchange of views when one had to meet face to face to negiotiate, compromise or make a revised offer and consideration.

Business and socials are effected on the screen - it is up to you as to when and how you read and respond.

The significant increased volume of gigabytes used is not a problem anymore as videos, images and graphics chomp on much way beyond mere text.

Will storage and usage capacity crash, or be transformed into ever more taken for granted transformations?

Human preoccupation can be ever channeling inwards.  Does it lead to social isolation, spearheading the epidemic of loneliness, as we spend more time with machines and software, rather than with personal interaction and the art of socialability?

There is a decrease of the use of paper, but more exposure to the debilitating consequences of light, dazzle and screen over use.

Communication used to emphasise the art of conversation  and writing.  Now it is silence, the dexterity of tapping fingers and the use of predictivd AI.  Is personal creativity eventually shown out of the room?  Has anyone consciously retained a semblence of still being able to write with a pen or pencil?

And what really happens if we misplace that personal device that contains virtually everything?  Or the big hack corrupting every item in that hand held device, with our personal identity stolen at the same time.

Electronic passes, financial accounts, life's meaningful images, news updates, means of messaging family and friends far and near, health records and more.

Each of us are also at the mercy of rising prices imposed by wifi providers which can be in a duopolistic market.

We may be already too late, having placed all of life's essential needs in a hand held device that needs to be changed or updated faster than the family car or lounge tv.

Well, that lounge tv is already nearly defunct.  No one gathers around to enjoy that screen together.  Instead, individually each of us are glued to the vagaries of our personal concerns, joy and diversions on our individual devices, even when we are seated together at the same table or room.

#yongkevthoughts

1400 in 16 years

 This is my 1400th write up for this blog.

To every one of you who have followed and read my posts even once, occasionally or all this while, I extend my deep appreciation, humility and gratitude.

In this age of temporary things, I am thankful for being able to go back to my previous musings, photographs, articulations, thoughts and moments.  Oh yes,  some of you may wonder why I have stopped posting images for several years now.   I still have not been able to resolve the technical problem, it may have to do with me preventing some thing on Google as part of strengthening my personal security parameters.

In culinary review posts, I had linked to Zomato, which has since gone defunct across Australia.

So many view points in the millions have been channeled in cyberspace, never going into print.    They gush through instant messaging, group chats, comments in apps that gaslight immediate feedback and other opportunities that may not encourage thoughtfulness before reacting.   Response by the masses churn as it is so ready for one individual  to light the fire of discord or inspiration.   We are pushed from checking websites to apps, from providing measured thoughts to spur of the moment gestures.  We need not even write in our response, but utilise symbols, icons and emotional signs.

Many of my previous posts reflect on matters that are no longer pertinent.   Yet I relish other posts that touch on longer lasting and still relevant subjects.    Politics, eateries and encounters can come and go, but meaningful human interactions and inspiration remain embedded.    The nature of passing and insignificant matters is illustrated.   Geographical places visited and experienced remain a joy in my heart.

Have some of my opinions changed in all these ensuing years, especially since my blog Kindlyyours.blogspot.com started in April 2008?   Each of us are evolving creatures and I hope the answer to that is a big Yes.  I may have moved on but I refuse to edit the views from opinion pieces from as far back as sixteen years ago.

#yongkevthoughts

If Not, Then Why Not?

If you cannot find it, remind yourself of the reason for the search.

If you miss it, then make new plans.

The best way is often not what the crowd is urged upon.

Adding a new ingredient can often lift your game.

Things can somehow organise themselves.

I do not realise that I get away at times to better appreciate not getting away.

The best plans get chucked away by unexpectedly meeting the right person.

You encounter the new by not only taking a different route, but also at a different time.

We will not pass by again the same banks of the river of a life's journey.

It is more fruitful to heighten our own expectations of one's self, than to bother with our expectations of others.

If we are no longer useful to some, then we do not hear from them again.

Conserve our energy and joy away from those who just seek attention to and for themselves.

Silence is the most relaxing position to assume when we try to listen.

Walking away in silence is the most effective way to handle negativity.

To accept inspiration and joy ftom others is divine.  To protect ourselves from the opposite calls for our mindfulness.

Enjoying love from a pet reminds me of no need to verbalise what is pure and fortunate.

What is most precious are not things.

Realise what can be not obvious.

The mind can take us to a higher and more meaningful plane of existence.

We do not have to like and dislike things from twenty years ago, for each of us have moved on.

When we do not use it, we lose it.

We are lucky to remember, retain and cherish moments and words that nourish us from the past.

Embracing the new is as important as relishing the past.

What seems routine and ordinary can turn out to be more meaningful than so called big moments.

Indulge with individuals we have as loved in the present, for the future relegates each of us to the past.

We are what we think.

#yongkevthoughts

The Thin Lines Between

 In this age of information overload, all competing for your loyalty, belief, funding, behaviour and more, what is propaganda, selective data, truth, marketing, fact, opinion, misinformation and falsity?

At a click, there are parties out there in cyberspace who spawn messages out in such huge numbers at a speed only their wifi can channel them.  We do not know, or have met, such entities or persons who send them - and they need out be human.

On any matter these days, we are bombarded with a spectrum of views.   The first check we consciously must be aware is who is the deliverer of the message.   Does it come from the horse's mouth, a middle broker, an agent of the source, a paid distributor or a more neutral person?

How is the message worded? Does it come with a balance of articulated various views, or does it come hammering our senses with only one view?  Are shouting words or phrases used to push each of us accept the message, instead of allowing the recipient an opportunity to think independently?

Is the message condescending, or utilise oppressive humour to knock down other parties?

Is the information only focusing on selective matters and show strong indications of cherry picking?

Can the recipient validate what is driven down the throat with other sources of information?

Does the information raise sentiment, emotion and provocation?

Does each of us consciously remind ourselves of our own biases, preferences and beliefs when processing information given to us?  I know of individuals who are so rigid in their thinking - they quickly dismiss information received from the other side, or deeply have suspicions of any such information.

Do we remain mindful of the context in which a message, video clip or weblink is sent to us?  Are messengers really wanting something from us, or consistently trying to influence our mindset?

I am taught in school that fact requires solid evidence to support its validity.  Opinions are so easy to spot - millions of opinions are sprouting like plankton in high season on social media.  Propaganda is also obvious - or it can be subtle, especially if they are expressed by authority in society.

Misinformation can involve so called experts, academics and regulatory authorities.  Selective data and evidence can be cleverly structured to convince individuals and the masses.  Many an occasion we are told what is good or bad, when reality is not so clearcut and can vary.

What is truth depends on perception, cultural upbringing and past experience.  So I learnt that truth need not be factual, but facts are true.  When facts are not accepted, the recipient has had other versions of what is truth in the mind, conviction and context.  I may be sold to a falsity which I have been taught to be true.

The blurring of things can become so significant when we confront matters of personal health, belief and politics.  We can be overtly or covertly pressured to conform when we are active members of a specific community in every sense.

How do I handle it when what  I have always held to be truth turns out to be against the facts?  How do I feel when selected facts given to me are discovered to be cherry picked to support an otherwise non factual menu?

We remain vulnerable when we are given pieces of information that stir our emotions, pushing us further to accept falsity as truth.   Fragments of truth can be found with sharpnels of falsity in a misleading brew.  The roar of mass approval can cascade us into this situation when we had hardly a chance to independently think for ourselves.

In shaking the chaff from the grain, I realise most of us take comfort in what we consciously or subconciously want to hear. That is critical to advisors and speech writers working for powerful politicians.

I get most gullible when I receive information from those I have trusted all my life.  Beware of those who then transform beyond their original perceived selves as they get caught up in commercial greed, huge funding and access to power.

On relatively small matters, it can be a fun game to discern from information that looks kosher but is really dodgy.

On more significant matters, increasingly there is no point to argue or challenge each other on who is "right" or"wrong".

The reality can be that we have all been fooled, manipulated like puppets on a string.

#yongkevthoughts