The Producer informed me that he will be focussing on the new penalties for driving in the centre lane on the motorway, tailgating, etc. He asked me what I think of the new fines and when they should be used. I gave my opinion that certain circumstances would benefit from it, but changing peoples actions are a little harder to achieve.
There's a lot to be wary of when dealing with journalists, they'll tell you their story is about something that appeals to you when the real agenda is to use you to prop up a damaging prejudice or stereotype.
Someone on this board expressed it well in another thread with something along the lines of: it's like dancing with a 300lb bear, you can do it but you won't be the one leading.
I read an article a couple of years back about a woman who was misled in this fashion, to the extent that it seriously affected her life and she spent two years fighting to set the record straight. She was asked to take part in a feature about people "who had left the city to live in the country and the benefits it had brought" which, when published, was changed to “Sex & the Country – What happened when four singletons, fed up with shallow urban lives, upped sticks in a quest for rural romance?”
If you've got five minutes to spare it's worth
reading her story.
I hope the programme doesn't twist things against you Matthew but I wouldn't be surprised.
GC
