Restyling Factual TV: Audiences and News, Documentary and Reality Genres

by Annette Hill

Overview

Addressing the wide range of programmes and formats from news, to documentary, to popular factual genres, Annette Hill’s new book examines the ways viewers navigate their way through a busy, noisy and constantly changing factual television environment.

Restyling Factual TV addresses the wide range of programmes that fall within the category of 'factuality', from politics, to natural history, to reality entertainment.

Based on research with audiences of factual TV, primarily in Sweden and the UK, but with reference to other countries such as the US, this book tackles issues such as legitimacy, ethics and value in contemporary news and current affairs, documentary and reality programming.

Drawing on the ethics of truth-telling and notions of quality, this wide-ranging, authoritative book expands the debate on popular factual entertainment and will be a welcome addition to the current literature.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415379564
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	05/24/2007
Edition description:	New
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Annette Hill is Professor of Media and Research Director of the School of Media, Arts and Design, University of Westminster. Her previous publications include Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television (2005), the Television Studies Reader (with Robert C. Allen, 2003), TV Living: Television, Audiences and Everyday Life (with David Gauntlett, 1999) and Shocking Entertainment: Viewing Responses to Violent Movies (1997).

Table of Contents

1. What is Factual Television? 2. Historical Contexts 3. News and Current Affairs 4. Documentary 5. Reality TV 6. Truth Claims 7. Learning 8. Ethics 9. Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

"Restyling Factual TV is a major contribution to our understanding of audience responses to the reality formats on television. The comparative perspective, involving British and Swedish audiences, is particularly rewarding, and much needed, since international reality formats are adapted to national settings."

Göran Bolin, Professor of Media & Communication Studies, Södertörn University College, Sweden

"Hill gives fresh momentum and focus to the agenda of audience research. In exploring how the reworking of factual forms is affecting cultures of viewing, she poses some pressing questions about the changing relationships between television, knowledge, social values and emotional life."

John Corner, Professor in Politics and Communication Studies, University of Liverpool

"Restyling Factual TV is one of those unusual books that presents original academic research and innovative thinking in a form that can be used to teach courses on factual broadcasting or popular culture."

Peter Lunt, Professor of Media and Communications, Brunel University

From the Publisher