LO1: Issues Relating To Factual Programming For Television

Henna Ashraf

Unit 27 Factual Programming for Television

Issues that have to be covered, when producing a factual programming for television, are accuracy, balance, subjectivity or objectivity, representation, bias, impartiality, opinion, access, privacy and contract with the viewer. Following from this, I will be explaining the definition of these above-mentioned vocabularies and will give an example of each.

Within the production of television programming, accuracy of information is a vital aspect. A programme has to be accurate so that it can be broadcasted on television otherwise it will be rejected from being aired. The correct definition of accuracy is the condition or quality of being correct and free from errors. In factual programmes, like the news it is very important that the reporters give correct and accurate information, otherwise people will begin to lose faith in them and they would lose credibility.

Whereas, balance, on the other hand can be defined as the equilibrium of a product; how much truth it contains and how fair and neutral it is. Balance is required so that the audience can see both sides of a story, and in the end make their own decision and decide which they want to believe and which they don’t. Unbalanced programmes are unlikely to be broadcasted on television, as they can be quiet misleading.

Subjectivity is defined as the belonging to the thinking subject, rather than the object of thought. Things that can be regarded as subjective are people’s own opinions, moods and attitudes. Programs can be subjective if they portray only the individuals’ thoughts about an event, rather than looking at the wider context with an open mind.

On the other hand, objectivity means the opposite of subjective.  This means that the production team has not put their mind, interests, and opinions towards or within the product and hence it is an overall view, which is not affected by the individuals’ thought of mind.

Representation is action or speech on behalf of a person, group, business and community etc. In other words, this can also be described as how an individual or group is presented to us. Some examples of media representation are; class, gender, age, sexuality and more so. However, stereotypes and labelling comes under the influence of media upon us. The media represents youths as thugs in hoodies, children and oldies as vulnerable and so forth.

Another issue in factual programming is bias. Bias means to be prejudice, favouring something over another, in a usually unfair manner. A bias factual programming is a one-sided decision, whereas impartiality is the complete opposite of bias. Showing impartiality within factual programming for television is considered to be fair and just; from a balanced objective viewpoint.

Opinion is also used within factual programming, such as documentaries. This is a view of judgment about something, not necessarily being based on facts or knowledge. This is usually a personal view of a matter or belief about a particular thing however the same set of values can be interpreted differently. 

Access and privacy more or less can be discussed as a single issue. Access is the means of approaching or entering a place, to observe. This has to be granted from the gatekeeper with their consent; however the observation and participation can be overt or covert. Privacy, on the other hand, is the state or condition of being free from being observed or disturbed by other people and away from public attention. Access allows individual to observe peoples private, professional and social life.

A final issue which is related to factual programming on television is the contract with the viewer. Contract with the viewer refers to an agreement with the audience. Programmes usually have to be able to show great persuasion, in order to attract a large audience; however this can only be done if the impact of the opening of the programming has a great impact. The level of impact caused is referred to  as, the contract with the viewer.

Issue	Big Fat Gypsy Wedding	News Night	The Worlds Strictest Parents
Accuracy	Yes. It goes into the real lives of gypsies, looking into their lifestyle, being it all real, it has to be accurate. Each episode it looks at gypsies, from different places around the world and how they all live; respecting the fact that like us, they all live differently too.	Yes. The information given to us by News Night has to be correct or it will cause controversy and also because if it is untrue and inaccurate, then people will stop believing what is being told to them. This is the only good source of means to know what is happening in the world around us and has to be accurate.	Very accurate. This factual programming on television contains the true lives of people hence it has to be accurate and is not misleading. However, like always we cannot be sure about the real behaviours of people, but sometimes during longitudinal studies the reality is revealed, increasing the levels of accuracy. It is quite difficult for people to hide their true nature for too long.
Balance	Yes. As this is a documentary based on people’s real lifestyle, it is most likely to contain almost truth and therefore it is very unlikely for the information displayed to us being false or not an honest picture. If this was the case, there would be a lot of problems with the media and society and hence I believe it is balanced.	Yes. This is a balance piece of programming as it portrays the truth only, however it can be argued that it does exaggerate on a lot of the matters. Nevertheless, it has a balanced statement.	Yes. It shows two different types of families and each episode is different to the previous, which shows different peoples living formats. My Worlds Strictest Parents usually has a split, where during half the episode half of a family is shown and the other half, another family, but this is merged together, rather than distinctive.
Subjective/ Objective	Objective. Big Fat Gypsy Weddings is an objective programme, as this only looks at the picture as a whole, however at times the production team tend to be quiet subjective towards this issue, as they only show us the things which will create an image/ stereotype of gypsies, which means that the programme has been subjectively filmed.	Both. The news itself is generally objective, however the views of people and their experiences makes this programming subjective too. Nevertheless, it can be argued that majority of the time it is objective, and interviews are shown to get a truer picture and therefore the means of it are not subjective.	Objective. It shows the reality of how people have lives, the producers choice hasn’t affected what is being showed by is; the production has been made with an open mind, to allow us to see the differences between the types of families and parents.
Representation	Average representation. This is because as we see, in each episode a single person, sometimes a group has been recorded, which makes this unrepresented of the wider society of gypsies. Perhaps what we see in one particular episode is not what other gypsies go through too. Therefore, sometimes it may be under represented. Also, we see gypsy girls in adult situations; e.g. dress sense, levels of maturity/immaturity and this creates a stereotype of label, by the public. There are occasions, where we judge then negatively, because their culture and lifestyle is different to ours and because we know that they have a stronger religious ethic and hence see some things as wrong or inappropriate.	Representative. The media shows people as they are, despite sometimes creating stereotypes but that is usually not the case because they are open to critical opinions and therefore must be as true as they can. Nevertheless, it is representative with its information and at time can be more representative than others, for examples, when the riots took place. During the rioting moments, a lot of youth were portrayed as mischievous, alongside adults and therefore it levels it out.	Representative. On this programme, we as an audience are able to see people’s lifestyle and cultures and are able to learn from it. This programme also fails to stereotype people, which is a good thing, as it would influence our though of mind and see it from a different perspective. Each week different families are shown, which makes it representative of the population too and isn’t generalisable.
Bias/Impartial	Mainly impartial. A vast majority of the time we see gypsies as being themselves, however sometimes media coverage throws in subjective comments and views which perhaps tilts the ball then, and we no longer see them as we should.	Bias. It gives one side of the story, usually the side of which they have been asked to write and talk about. Therefore the favour of information being transmitted to us is bias.	Impartial. We are able to see what people see and do; it is recorded with an open mind and isn’t a prejudice documentary. We are able to compare and contrast the similarities and differences between the families ourselves; the production team don’t influence our thoughts. We are left to decide and interpret it as we want.
Opinion	A lot of opinion. During the episodes of this programme, we are able to see how, what and why the gypsies portray themselves as they are which clears the air for most people. It concentrates on their emotions, feelings and views towards society and other aspects too.	Yes. The news is heavily opinion based, as it reflects the reality of the present and past. It expresses people’s opinions towards a particular issue that is making the headlines at the current time.	Yes. It is opinionated because individuals give their views on their belief system and culture, and we should respect that different families hold different customs and beliefs and that we are not all the same.
Access/ Privacy	Access has been given to allow the production team to be able to observe and record the private lives of the Gypsies. In one episode, access to nightclubs had been granted, as this is where the gypsy girls have visited. Therefore this is a very open environment and the production team hasn’t secretly filmed.	Access is usually granted to big channels like the BBC and ITV, to record things however there are some places and times where this access is restricted. For example, access is not given to film in courtrooms, but artists are allow to take notes and drawings, which still allows them to access the information, but information is limited.	Access from the families being recorded have been given, however access might be restricted to certain things. For example, producers may have the access to film at people’s homes, but not necessarily at places of worship etc.
Contract With The Viewer	Yes. This programme has been successful, as it has managed to attract a lot of viewers, whether it is for entertainment or educational purposes. But this programme has given society a better insight into gypsy’s lifestyle and has brought out a better view than we could have thought.	Mostly. The news is a factual programming which brings together stories and information of different types and some are more appealing and interesting than others. For example, news related to education, government and so forth are noted more seriously than others and therefore, there are peak times where the news will be watched/seen/ or brought than other times. Also, the news is more commonly read or watched by adults and the elderly, rather than children and teenagers.	Sometimes. This documentary appeals to people sometimes not always. This is because, people are attracted to watch this from the commercial ads beforehand. However, if people do not see elements such as truth, anger, emotion and more so, they are less likely to watch it. This is because it is out of their preference and might be rather boring. However the episodes which contain that more likely to be watched by a larger audience, for entertainment purposes.