Alex Massie Alex Massie

Lie-detector television? Not a bad idea!

In the midst of an otherwise risible* column on how if it weren’t for the BBC license fee all British TV would be as trashy as some of Fox’s output, Marina Hyde asks:

Have any of these people seen the likes of Moment of Truth, one wondered idly, in which our hero Mike Darnell hooked up semi-witting participants to lie detectors, whereupon they were asked “Do you really care about starving children in Africa?”, or questioned about their porn-watching habits?

The first of these questions would seem one worth asking Guardian journalists; the second is clearly a matter for the Home Secretary.

*Risible because the US TV vs British TV “debate” is ludicrous. Both countries produce some decent programming and tremendous amounts of rubbish. No-one who has witnessed the horror of the BBC’s Hole in the Wall can claim any superiority on matters of televisual taste.

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