GORDON LIGHTFOOT | Culture
COMMENTS OPEN
Tauranga’s Keith Williams, 72, has confirmed he has successfully transitioned his long-standing habit of formally complaining to the Broadcasting Standards Authority into what he is calling a “more direct channel.”
The discovery comes following news that the BSA is set to be disestablished, leaving Keith briefly unsure where he would direct his concerns about what he describes as “bloody inappropriate content” on New Zealand television.
“I used to sit down, draft something up, maybe sleep on it, then send it through the proper channels,” says Williams. “Now that the BSA’s disappearing I’ve had to do my duty a different way, which is actually much faster. I can get on Facebook while the ad’s still playing and tell the right people to pull their heads in.”
Keith says the shift has allowed him to respond in real time to issues such as suggestive burger commercials, confusing bank ads and free to air cricket games “being commentated by a bunch of puerile bloody idiots.”
“You see something dodgy or ridiculous, you pause the TV, grab your phone and bang, you’re in the comments,” he explains. “Nine times out of ten someone else has already kicked off about it, so you just add your bit. It’s a good community system.”
Williams says he particularly enjoys the ability to engage directly with others who are equally concerned, often escalating matters well beyond the original issue.
“Next thing you know you’re talking about bloody Jacinda and the decline of society as a whole,” he says. “That wouldn’t happen through a formal complaint form.”
Local friend and occasional viewing companion Steve Rata says Keith has taken to the new platform like a duck to water.
“Before he was spending half an hour writing a complaint, but now he’s doing five or six posts a night, while also getting into angry exchanges with total strangers,” says Rata. “He’s way more productive, to be honest.”
Williams was last seen drafting a Facebook comment about an ad for women’s sanitary products, noting he was “just asking questions” and expecting “a decent response.”
More to come.
