Has ITV gone to(o) far?

When you have a biggish decision to make, as in whether to stay in France jobless but undefeated or go back to Britain jobless but undefeated, little things suddenly - and maybe irrationally - mean a lot.

If I were to reach a verdict based on the past few days, when I have found myself by accident watching an awful lot of ITV (and yes, you can move the "awful" along a couple of words), the choice would be simple.

Cancel those P&O shares that bring concessionary fares, throw away the Eurostar Frequent Traveller card and forget that Easyjet ever existed.

Is it just me? Or has today's equivalent of News at Ten become a televised caricature of tabloid journalism at its most wretched?

Since the end of last week, I have watched enough to make me feel grateful for the gentle restraint of French TV news, which - like the French press - is not always hugely impressive but at least tries to present itself as an intelligent digest of what's going on in the world.

On one evening, ITN had a report on a despicable child abduction and rape in which there was a garish reconstruction and the reporter actually spoke of the day "the nasty man" came to call.

Then there was the bizarre spectacle of an honest political correspondent undermining a shrill lead item about immigration curbs by trying to inject a little realism into the detail. He'll need to watch his step.

And did anyone else catch last night's report on the possibility that the world's first full face transplant will take place soon in the UK?

Clever strokes were pulled to change the science reporter Lawrence McGinty's own face several times as he spoke to camera. It made you look, but it also made you think how damned hard it was to follow his analysis of the likely psychological effects of the surgery.

As if to enrage literate viewers, someone had also composed a slogan to flash up on the screen asking if it wasn't all a case of medical science "going to far".

The tragedy is that in each case I have cited, the subject was serious enough to overcome any jumped-up executive's desire to make viewers feel they were being shouted at.

I appreciate the "And finally......" items, offbeat tales that give essential balance to the news diet, whether in broadcast or printed format. But is it so old-fashioned and unrealistic to expect proper news to be handled as if those presenting it are taking it seriously?

It was so appalling that it made me, for a while, stop thinking about the horrors of a two-part ITV drama that ended last night and might otherwise have dominated this posting.

Bon Voyage it was called, and it was about a nightmarish family on holiday in France and having a nightmarish experience even they didn't deserve. The script and plot were so bad that the cast looked as if they were embarrassed to be involved; M et Mme Randall found it impossible not to laugh while watching the supposedly tense and thrill-packed climax.

But back to the news.

Once, when some Telegraph wag sent me (a Sunderland supporter) to Tyneside to report on a Newcastle United boardroom crisis, I met a lovely man who worked for the Daily Star.

He was educated, intelligent and sharp. But all he'd ever wanted in life was to work for the Daily Star. His mildly dubious reasoning was that while announcing yourself as being from the Sun was likely to produce either a torrent of abuse or an instant demand for money, the worst he'd ever had to endure, as the Man from the Star, was laughter and pity.

That, it seems to me, is fine. No one expects the Star to be other than what it is. Wasn't a recent advertising jingle Ooh aah, ooh aah, say ooh aah Daily Star ?

But if a flagship television news bulletin does not aspire to greater things, then even I will begin to despair that my trade is, well, Going To Far. The phrase could catch on.