It has been several weeks now since Channel 4's excellent Alternative Election Night team returned to our screens as 10 O'Clock Live.
I have yet to be convinced by the show. There have been some good points. While Jimmy Carr and Lauren Laverne have played dress up and Charlie Brooker does what Charlie Brooker does best, David Mitchell has been the star. While a lot of the show has been about bringing in a partisan voice opposite to conservative tone that dominates the press, Mitchell has been a refreshing and commendable voice of sense and moderation. While far from unwilling to speak his mind, he has used it to get everyone's cards on the table to engage in a serious attempt to, not just figure out who is right, but where the views might be reconciled.
However beyond Mitchell, 10 O'clock Live has been at serious risk of treating its audience with as much contempt as the right-wing press treats theirs. Frankly, if I want to be pandered to, I'll buy the Daily Mail. Hearing Jimmy Carr utter that he 'would struggle to take any sort of interest' in the Liberal Democrat conference, was a crushing blow to the credentials of a team hosting a topical-politics show.
How can a show hope to be taken seriously in its satire and viewpoints if it can describe the conference of a governing party as outside of the interest of one of its hosts?
The show seems to buy into the idea that the best counter to a right-wing slanted press is some left-wing slanted media. No. What viewers need is more balanced coverage, more moderation and more David Mitchell.
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References:
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+ 10 O'Clock Live on Channel 4
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