INPUT / … / … / Television and the state

This year has seen dangerous new inroads into television’s freedom of expression. State intervention, official or indirect, undermines political, journalistic, and artistic independence. It is essential that program makers understand each other’s difficulties in these areas, and plan methods of confronting them. One important freedom is the right to laugh. National leaders are cautions of showing that they lack a sense of humor. But the limits of tolerance may be narrower than we expect. AT THE EDGE OF THE UNION, a balanced and scrupulously fair portrait of two Northern Irish politicians, caused a storm of controversy when it was originally banned by the BBC’s board of governors after pressure from the British government. FRANK WORDS ARE NOT ENOUGH still has not been shown in Hungary. It presents a powerful and disturbing picture of two young outcasts of society, and of their heroes, the rock bands who are not allowed to make records, give official concerts, or appear on television. In RIGHT TO REPLY, an eminent program maker answers back against the state, and state violence. IS-IT-TRUE overstepped the bounds of what was permitted in television satire.