Channel 4- part 2

On Thursday 24 June, I attended the Channel 4 summer education conference, this time as a participant rather than as a guest speaker on the panel as last year.

I was in slight trepidation as the general mood then had been one of the IT world as nigh perfect and a force only for good. The suggestion that it might be potentially detrimental to cognitive and social development via the constant access and addictiveness of internet porn, was not warmly received by the mainly male audience. So it was with relief this year when Samira Ahmed, journalist and broadcaster, the excellent facilitator for the day, set a different tone and one more conducive to open discussion about it.

It came up indirectly at first- the elephant in the room. One presenter who funds creative projects in deprived areas, asked us “to leave our morality at the door” while he raved about a poor, under educated, black guy, who had learned to use cheap technology in a sophisticated and successful way. He spoke of this recently released convict who applied his knowledge to wreak revenge on his ex partner and her new boyfriend. He had forced the couple to perform a demeaning sexual act on each other which he proceeded to film on his phone then sent it viral via Blue Tooth in the East London (Deptford and Brixton) locality for everyone to receive on their mobile phones. Apparently it was a huge sensation in the area, delivered in 3 episodes.

The issues of the sexual abuse and criminal assault perpetrated on the woman and her boyfriend were not even mentioned. Several of us were concerned and disappointed at this omission, including Samira Ahmed. We got speaking over lunch. She remarked how women’s rights and the negative social implications of technology were being totally ignored. So afterwards, she called back the presenter of the earlier item and gave the matter an airing.

Samira has shown great interest in our work on education about porn material and has suggested follow up meetings over the summer with a view to doing an item on Channel 4 itself. This works well with the earlier interest from Jill Burridge, editor of Women's Hour on BBC Radio 4.