Telebasura

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Telebasura (pronounced te-leh-bah-SOO-rah; from Spanish tele and basura, meaning "TV" and "garbage" respectively) is a Spanish disparaging term for non-fiction TV programs which are known for disobeying the deontologic codes of journalists and television presenters and diffusing negative values that influence people (mainly youth) in a negative manner. The term telebasura is usually associated to reality programs and talk shows where either the moderator is partial or inexistent, the supporters of a particular point of view are the majority or insults, fault language and uproar predominate. Obviously, the fact of considering a program as telebasura is rather subjective.

[edit] Characteristics

The telebasura is often compared to the sensationalist press. Some of the arguments used to denounce a program as telebasura are the existence in them of:

• Manipulation of information, or confusion of information and opinion.
• No respect of the right to privacy.
• Conversion of human pain and misery into spectacle.
• Focus on sex, scandal or violence.
• Use of the naked human body, particularly the female one.
• Playing down the consequences of prostitution and drug consumption.
• Aberration presented as a model to imitate.
• Scorn of any figure of authority.
• Fighting rather than dialogue.
• Offensive Language.
• Cultural Relativism, and diffusion of subculture.
• Promotion of pseudoscience and occultism.
• Excessive focus on the private lives of celebrities and famous people.

[edit] See also

• Televisão Independente