On January 23, Sir John Tusa, an “old-timer” in journalism, the once Managing Director of the BBC World Service and the Barbican Art Center in London, during the meeting with a group of journalists at the “Armenia Wine” factory, recommended to have a “lightly” look at the great curiosity of the public to the “light” topics. In response to the observation by Aravot.am that nowadays, the interest in weather forecast, this or that political figure and drop of oil prices is greater, the materials on this subject are read more in Armenia than, let’s say, the materials about the opera or any cultural event, unless, of course, there is a scandal, the British journalist noted, “The oil price and the politics are also important but there should be at least one who would write about the culture and prove that there are many interesting topics here too so that the editors would give more importance to the cultural topics.
Some 20 years ago, it was the case in the United Kingdom, the editors were asking whether someone has written about and whether it is interesting … Well, if you want, then write it… And one or two journalists were found who began writing about these topics”. He recalled that once when he was working for the radio but wanted to work for the Television, he was interested in the politics and the international relations, he was offered to prepare a program on community topics. After working for three months, however, he became sure that he is not interested in it and the culture is more close to his heart. As for the light and entertaining topics, as John Tusa said, the question should be viewed in this way whether it is interesting to you and how much space you want to allocate to it. “Yes, today’s pop music influences on the public but the original artists … Stravinsky, Picasso and others, leave a longer-term influence,” noted the former Managing Director of the BBC World Service.
Also, not to forgot to mention that the program having the largest BBC audience, the last but not the least program was viewed by 12 million people was the contest of baking a cake. Sir John also said that the cultural awareness of the public in the UK is higher than that of the politicians. “Politicians need to be “poked” constantly, encourage them and put to shame … Of course, there are some mayors who understand that by spending money on the culture, it is possible to better manage the city,” he said.
Gohar HAKOBYAN
