Americanisation of Australian Television Essay Example
The Americanization of Australian Television is a sad and terrible thing. It is a process whereby ordinary Australians are bombarded every day with images of American lifestyle, so much that it merges almost unnoticed into their own lifestyle. It is a process whereby our home-grown entertainment industry is overwhelmed by the enormous powerhouse of the American economy, with drastic effects upon the modern Australian nation. Not only is Australian free to air TV being dominated by American produced shows, but a lot of the content on the Australian TV shows is sourced from America. American culture is part of Australian mass consumer culture, It dominates our television.
If we look at the early history of Australian television, virtually all program material until 1963 was of foreign origin, of which eighty three percent was American and the rest British (Cited in an article by Cunningham Stuart ,"History, Contexts, Politics, Policy".) Philip Bell discusses in his article that even in the first two decades of television American programs and formats dominated commercial channels' ( Cited in an article by Bell Phillip, Television'). So Americanization of Australian television is not just a recent development. This problem has been there right from the beginning with American shows like Leave it to Beaver and I love Lucy dominating the TV screens of Australian households.
Many are concerned with this issue, a good example is shown in an article written by David Dale, readers were asked if they were shocked by the revelation that all the most popular dramas and comedies on Australian television were made in America, and whether they thought TV stations should be forced to show more stories from other countries, including Australia. Carolina Peters talks about her concerns over this issue, she quotes, "I am not at all shocked that so much of the drivel on our TV screen comes from the US. I am, however, deeply concerned that so much of our programming
If we look at the early history of Australian television, virtually all program material until 1963 was of foreign origin, of which eighty three percent was American and the rest British (Cited in an article by Cunningham Stuart ,"History, Contexts, Politics, Policy".) Philip Bell discusses in his article that even in the first two decades of television American programs and formats dominated commercial channels' ( Cited in an article by Bell Phillip, Television'). So Americanization of Australian television is not just a recent development. This problem has been there right from the beginning with American shows like Leave it to Beaver and I love Lucy dominating the TV screens of Australian households.
Many are concerned with this issue, a good example is shown in an article written by David Dale, readers were asked if they were shocked by the revelation that all the most popular dramas and comedies on Australian television were made in America, and whether they thought TV stations should be forced to show more stories from other countries, including Australia. Carolina Peters talks about her concerns over this issue, she quotes, "I am not at all shocked that so much of the drivel on our TV screen comes from the US. I am, however, deeply concerned that so much of our programming