NZ media – too safe for inclusion?

Philip Patston argues that media inclusion of disabled people takes intentional risk and, right now, the New Zealand media is playing it way too safe.

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This week the BBC launches "Cast Offs", its new comedy drama come mockumentary come reality spoof series, where six disabled people are sent to a remote island to discover whether they can survive unassisted.

It's being promoted as a positive response to TV's narrow portrayal of disabled people and features, perhaps for the first time ever, six (yes six) disabled actors. It's getting a range of reviews, being described as "sharp-edged satire" by Simon Startin of The Guardian, but "overly self-conscious" by Tom Shakespeare and Sarah Compton on BBC Radio 4's Front Row.

It's a brave move and it makes me proud to be English, even if it is on BBC 4 at 11pm. But then it is penned by the writers of "Skins" and "Shameless", and features trademark sex-scenes, so I guess the late slot is forgivable.

But will it make it to Kiwi television? Not likely, it seems. My source at TVNZ asked programmers and the response was, "We haven't been offered it," even though, apparently, they could purchase programmes without needing an offer.

So if our state broadcaster won't even consider buying such a series and resorts to lame excuses to justify it, how long will it take for New Zealand to produce something as unique? Forget it!

I won't hide the fact that I've been burned by the media in this country. I've enjoyed my fair share of airtime over the years perhaps, but in no way is there a sustainable commitment to promoting and developing the on-screen presence of disabled people in creative, meaningful ways. I've grown tired of pitching ideas to broadcasters and production companies, being told there isn't an audience or that I don't have enough cut-through. If that's so, it confirms my suspicion that there's an awful lot of crap to cut through.

Right now in NZ there are two opportunities to see openly disabled characters on our TV screens: on "Glee" (TV3) and on "Attitude" (TV One). Unfortunately, the actor who plays Artie on "Glee" is non-disabled, and "Attitude", though it's TVNZ's only charter commitment to disability and features "real" disabled people, tends to be formulaic and hardly worth getting up for at 8:30am on a Sunday (personally, I'm not sold on it for several reasons, but I'll concede that it's better than nothing).

Media inclusion takes intentional risk and, right now, the New Zealand media is playing it way too safe. My friend Mat Fraser, who plays Will in "Cast Offs", says, "We won't dwell on the arse-achingly long time it's taken to get something like this on television, we'll just celebrate the fact that it's here."

I was hoping to join in the celebration here on the other side of the world but, for now anyway, I'm sorry to say I won't be holding my breath.  

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View trailer videos on the "Cast Offs" Facebook Fan Page. Visit the BBC's "Cast Offs" mini-site. and the production company's website www.elevenfilm.com

For more on media and disability in NZ visit www.disabilitymedia.net