Playing the reality card: Factual TV programming for a new broadcasting age

Citation

Kilborn R (2008) Playing the reality card: Factual TV programming for a new broadcasting age. Zeitschrift fur Anglistik und Amerikanistik, 56 (2), pp. 143-151. https://doi.org/10.1515/zaa.2008.56.2.143

Abstract
This article provides some reflections on developments in factual TV programming in the UK in the last couple of decades. In principle, the term ‘factual programming' covers an extremely wide range of material and could include news and current affairs as well as a number of other genres that one could regard as ‘non-fiction' in their general orientation (see Hill 2007, 3-5). For the purposes of this article, however, I will confine my remarks to types of work which producers claim has a certain affinity with documentary and to which broadcasters themselves will generally attach the label ‘factual' in their schedule information and in other promotional material. Even so, the amount of programming that is paraded under the factual banner still remains relatively extensive. It ranges from the cheap and cheerful docu-soap to the more challenging multi-part documentaries on topics of more serious concern

Journal
Zeitschrift fur Anglistik und Amerikanistik: Volume 56, Issue 2

People

Professor Richard Kilborn

Honorary Professor, Communications, Media and Culture