Opening a Can of Worms

Can of Worms. “Is it ok to spy on your teenager online?” Green seat means the guest speaker says yes.

The public sphere according to Alan McKee is “a metaphorical term that’s used to describe the virtual space where people can interact” (McKee, 2014). The mediated public sphere however, is a place where people may come together to discuss between each other topics central to their exposure within the media and its marketing. With this in mind, we turn to a ‘popular’ television show called Can of Worms by the Ten Network as an example of the mediated public sphere that provokes discussion on issues of personal, moral and ethical behaviour.

Can of Worms contributes to debate with its confrontational questions asking for responses that are challenging to answer but are in relation to the matters our society face today. Much like television show Q and A, both are a mediated public sphere provided by national broadcasters. We can use this image above as a source for a typical question raised within Can of Worms in which it is seen that personal values, ethical and moral boundaries are questioned to what is acceptable.

Can of Worms is a show that asks thought provoking questions to a wide age group but relies on spectacle to incite a combination of issues including moral, domestic, emotional and personal matters that concern society. It has audience and guest speaker interaction as well as social media participation and polls. They might not talk about last week’s episode of Game of Thrones or what they thought about the ‘Red Wedding’, something you would see on the social media platforms, but controversial topics are raised from something in our everyday lives, like “Is it ok to spy on your teenager online?”, to something more sensitive such as “Is it wrong to tell your kids there is no God?”.

For a more serious look into a Can of Worms question, watch this:
Can of Worms: “Is it wrong to tell your kids there is no God?”

References:
Can of Worms is it wrong to tell kids there is no god – YouTube. 2014. Can of Worms is it wrong to tell kids there is no god – YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW4beYRDTHk. [Accessed 05 April 2014].

TVWrap, (2011), Can of Worms [ONLINE]. Available at: http://tvwrap.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/can-of-worms.png [Accessed 05 April 14].