BLOOM COUNTY

by Berke Breathed

OR, WEVE BEEN WONPERING

HAVE ANY CLOTHES ON

“SWEEPS WEEK.” NEWSPAPERS. NATIONWIDE ARE MONITORING THE READERSHIP. RATINGS OF THEIR COMICS

ALL THIS WEEK.

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ORDERS FROM THE HEAD OFFICE.

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CMON OUTTA THERE... ORDEKS FROM MANAGEMENT.

NUE AF A_. MGHTINGALE -

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GEE... HATE TO THROW A COLD SHOWER ON A SHREW? CORPORATE IDEA FOR A RATINGS 20097...

MY BOY. EVERY MORNING

FOR EIGHT YEAKS NOW.

FIFTY MILLION READERS HAVE WATCHEV YOU

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WITHOUT ANY

50 THIS 19 JU9T MORE EVIDENCE THAT THE CORPORATE PAPER SHUFFLERG IN CONTROL OF AMERICA'S GREAT CREATIVE MEDIUMS ARE A BUMBLING BUNCH OF BONEHEAVS .

OPUS TAKES AFIELD TRIP 70 “THE ACME STEWAKDESS SCHOOL.”

FRIDAY'9 STORY LINE ?

NO WONDER AMERICA'S YOUTH (9 GOING DOWN

KN HE TOLET.

Aloud Thought

Continued from page 3

aims. It’s role was more appar- ent to the production executives who cowered to the voice of mod- esty. However, since the commer- cial success of television, society has developed a cancerous lack of moral direction and the travesty of modern television stems from this.

The fact that programming growth has occurred does not necessarily mean a travesty in television programs. I need only point to such wonders of teevee as 77’ Sunset Strip, That’s My Momma or Kojak to indicate a positive change has also occurred. Few adolescents can whistle the themes to (let alone remember) these long since cancelled shows which now torment wastrel view- ers in such syndicated places as Lower Gehenna. But what has been the trade off for television?!

When television was first in- troduced, shortly after the fall of Man, it was tooted to be a de- vice that could instruct as well as entertain children and adults alike. It was presented as a tool for Man, forgetful that a mere hammer can be dangerous in the hands of incompetence. He could relax and be informed.

The fact that He failed to wipe the dishes after supper was gen- erally ignored, unless He lived with someone else. Even then, no one talked during ‘The Burns and Allen Show’ or interrupted ‘Uncle Milton [Burle].’ So any discussion on the matter of dirty dishes was recessed. Is it: any wonder why TV Dinners were invented?!

In fact a whole. new indus- try was created by television, with two immediate reactions. News reporting began accelerat- ing down the road of presenta- tion and a stranger, in some far away studio, was at the wheel. The reporting which was once en- trusted to a local town reporter, who wrote for the newspaper and had a local reputation, was now displaced by ‘the scoop’. News became less informative and more innuendo. It was easier to ex- tract the subjection from a re- porter whom you knew to be very approachable. This person was less liable to be strongly bias in reporting and more respectable by nature. Needless to point out that a television news anchor has the mystique of a movie star. And the people are impressed.

I had the opportunity to talk with Canadian television news- man Peter Mansbridge. I di- rected a few questions at him con-

cerning ‘the television news me- dia’s responsibility to its viewers. MANSBRIDGE: ‘ If a story’s true, and you know it to be true, then it’s your responsibility to in- form [the viewers]. Because of the time element involved in a news- cast, a lot of what is presented is compressed and squeezed in. We can only present the basic facts of the news in a day and the best we can hope for is to in- volve the people. We act as a ref- erence guide to the day’s head- lines. In just twenty-two minutes how much news can we actually report?! It’s the people’s respon- sibility to follow up with what we provide them [and that’s what makes the newscast more infor- mative than entertaining].’

Obviously, this tool can be- come an obsession. Click! It en- tertains. Click! It stimulates. Click! It debates. Click! It ed- ucates. Click! It’s on ‘round the clock! People talk about it. Peo- ple live with it. People eat with it. People sleep with it. People sleep with it on all night. On oc- casion it can and does take the place of human companionship. But how much do we know about it?

Can it influence us? Spon- sors who are willing to spend mil- lions of dollars for prime view-

" sor.

Win |

Question #1 How can you win a $50 gift certificate from the U.P.E.I. Bookstore?

Question #2 By designing a logo for the Residence Life Com- mittee. This logo must depict inter-residence (i.e. Bernardine, Blanchard, Marian) involvement and participation in different so- cial events and informational ses- sions; i.e. sports, games, drug and alcohol awareness, sexuality and decision making, etc. Please submit your designs to the co- ordinator’s of residence programs office in Marian Hall of in room

119 Bernardine Hall before April 14

Answer #2 By designing a mascot for Blanchard Hall. This mascot needs to depict what liv- ing in Blanchard Hall is really like. For example Marian Hall has the Pitbull and Bernardine Hall has Bernard Ian Hall, the party animal. Please submit your designs to room 216 Blanchard ‘Hall before April 14

If you require more informa- tion, please contact Cathy in the office in Mariar Hall or Room 119 Bernadine Hali or call 566-0362 or 566-0319.

The Germ is Catching!

Next week is the last issue of the Gem for the 1988-1989 Academic Year. This is your last chance to

be a part of us.

The spoof issue is coming out,

and we would

like to recieve

the craziest, looniest submissions that you can write. So don’t be shy, come down to the dungeon _of Main and hand in your stories,

aK 383 BK

ing time must think so. Does television influence our behavior? Is: that not the purpose of com- mercials? to change our buying habits?! Does it work? Do you know how to spell OREO?! How about relief? This debate contin- ues without resolution adding an-' other question to an already large list: Why?

Who holds the reins on the thirteen inch wild horse people watch an estimated eight hours a day of? Is it the sponsors of such gems as ‘Hallmark’s Hall Of Fame’? Or ‘Texaco Star The- atre’? Can we really “trust the man with Texaco star”? Televi- sion writers must sell their ideas to producers who, in turn, must market an audience to a spon- How many intelligent, en- riching shows have fallen to a lack of sponsors? Therefore, does not a sponsor have a firm grasp on what was considered society’s role of morally guiding television?

But then again, who watches this wild horse called teevee? Does not this responsibility lie at the feet of its viewers? And what does Society do, it argues and de- bates incessantly. It does not use television with the care a carpen- ter would use a hammer even as television has ceased to be used as a tool for Man. Money talks

| poems, articles, etc. to the Germ.

louder than the dead, and that is what the North American Society and its culture have become. We are all that’s left. And we are not immortally syndicated.

We, The People, about to die salute thee. Roll the cred- its. Sound the white light noise. Click!

It is an interesting fact to know that television started from humble beginnings, operating at night from between seven and eleven. It’s growth, in less than

twenty years, is phenomenal and characteristic of North American Society. Growth, as any farmer will tell you, is relevant to the fer- tilizer underneath it.

' I hope that when I’m dead and they’re burying me someone has enough imagination left to deliver a good eulogy. It’d hate to be forced to video tape my own. Hmmm. Maybe I’d have a larger audience...

As for the Expos, sports fans, not. even Raines can delay their demise —-never mind video.

Richard Whipple is a student of ‘Gonzo Journalism’ currently at work on a novel entitled ‘A Di- atribe Of Everything’.

April 6, 1989 & A

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