Factual Programming theory
Task 1
Factual programming is where they base factual programs providing facts and statistics on a certain subject. The audience watching will know what they will be given facts and statistics, this is also known as 'contract with the viewer'. Ofcom is an organisation that can regulate everything that is broadcasted to the general public through TV and radio. Ofcom is not used for commercial purposes, its used for the benefit of the public. It protects the general public from scams, harm and being mislead.
Accuracy is when something is near to the true value and its as precise as it can be. The audience will be trusting in that program to be telling facts and not opinions as factual programs are meant to be accurate. If they aren't accurate they may lose the trust of the audience which may result in the viewing figures to go down. To get the accurate research everything has to be carefully researched to make sure they are getting the correct facts and figures.
My documentary is based on a factual program. It shows facts and statistics that are trusting and reliable. My documentary is also backed up with video evidence of me interviewing someone who works in that particular department. He would have great knowledge of the subject and would be reliable with his facts in the interview when answering the questions. It cant be a biased interview so I made sure that when he had answered all the questions and had videoed it all, that I went over it and researched it to make sure.
In a news report for example, Balance is usually used to keep and argument balanced. Both sides of an argument have to be shown but they can't present one side better than the other. A story has to be shown from both sides without trying to be biased. In order to maintain balance you need to be impartial.
Impartiality is when the producers don't take either side. If a producer took a side it could or would cause problems with the audience. The audience watch factual programmes just to gain facts, they don't want to be pulled into an argument where they have to produce their own opinion. I made sure that my documentary contained facts and not opinions.
Objectivity is being able to put an argument across and being able to present the research to go with the argument. All of this without being biased or impartial, giving the audience a chance to make up their own opinion on the subject.
Subjectivity is when you make a judgement based on your own personal feelings and opinions. In a documentary if you want the audience to have a particular view on the subject they would have to present it in a bad way so that the audience can build their own opinion on it.
Opinions are your own judgement on a particular person or subject. Its based on your own personal view. Opinions can be supported by an argument although others may not have the same opinions.
Bias is when you are on one side and against something or someone unfairly.In documentaries are sometimes biased over an argument. They support one side of a story and try and promote to follow the side they are on. Censorship is against biased views, it is there to protect the audience from causing controversy. The news is not biased due to following the Ofcom rules.
Bias
Media bias is being biased. There are 5 different types of media bias:
- Advertising bias - When stories are selected or slanted to please advertisers.
- Corporate bias - When stories are selected or slanted to please the corporate owners of media.
- Mainstream Bias - A tendency to report what everyone else is reporting and to avoid stories that would offend anyone.
- Sensationalism - Giving the impression that rare events such as airplane crashes.
- Concision - Report views that can be summarised succinctly, crowding out more unconventional views that take time to explain
Reflecting a wide range of opinions.
Being honest and open about any personal history.
Subjective
Personally opinion
Objective
Based on facts
Context
BBC editorial guidelines
http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/guidelines/impartiality/impartiality-series-time
Task2
A factual programme can only work effectively by following certain code and conventions.
Anchor/ Presenter is someone who simply introduces the content of the factual programme. Often the TV presenter are in a green screen in order to add visuals to the story to make it seem more realistic. They are always dressed formally and professionally to make it more professional or serious about the subject they are on. Its a sign of showing manners to serious subjects that arise. Same with their tone of voice, it all has to be professional.
Correspondent/ field reporter is someone who reports from another area about the same subject. It sometimes shows evidence of the catastrophe that has occurred. One of the disadvantages with being a field reporter is that the public try and get in the shot and this cant be edited out in a live news report.
News readers have to have a formal approach. They also cant be biased and have to be politically correct. National news readers often don't have an accent but instead they have a neutral accent which is understandable by all audiences. The regional news have their local accent which allows the local audience to relate and understand.
Interviewing is when a reporter will question the public to add content and opinions to the programme. They also use interviews to show a witness to an event that haves happened to back it up.
Experts, witnesses, facts and statistics are used to inform the audience about the facts and figures about that particular subject. This helps the audience create more knowledge about the factual programme. A witness would also be used to inform the audience but with a different approach, as its to create a knowledge approach to whats actually happened rather than the facts associated with the content. This is when the witness is interviewed in order to provide the factual programme with original content.
Report structure are steps that they follow to put it across to the audience. It always starts off with the presenter reading out the headlines for the programme and then will refer back to the first headlines they read out but talk about it in depth. Te presenter would then cross over to someone else whether its and expert, witness or correspondent. This usually happens via video call or by joining the presenter in the studio. Or the factual programme will go into cutaways and visual effects with a correspondent providing a voice over. This is what makes a factual programme recognizable.
Different types of Documentaries:
Reflexive - They reflect on real life. Example, Frozen planet.
Expository - This is a documentary that is less formal that contains visuals which are more entertaining to the audience watching. These types of documentaries don't follow the strict conventions.
Observational - This is where the documentaries only use one camera which observes the world.
Performative - They empathises the emotional and social impact of the audience.
Poetic Documentary - Is a documentary that has a topic which is personal to the people involved, usually the presenter and the interviewees. Some aspects of the persons life and presents these via music, camera shots and angles and the editing.
Narrativisation - Explore how story is often formed around a factual programme whether intentionally or not.
