Whatever happened to serious TV?
Sunday 28 October, 11.00am until 12.30pm, Cafe Café Conversations

Few people would dispute that the content of TV schedules has changed remarkably over the past few years. Following the ratings success of shows like Big Brother and Wife Swap, ‘Reality TV’ reigns supreme. In audition-based shows such as X-Factor and Strictly Come Dancing, meanwhile, celebrities and common folk alike compete to impress judges and the viewing public at home, who increasingly dictate the content and direction of their programmes – a trend hailed as the ‘democratisation’ of television. In the past year alone Any Dream Will Do, How to Solve a Problem Like Maria? and Dancing on Ice have all achieved high ratings using this format. In doing so they have taken over Saturday night TV, traditionally the bastion of game shows and comedy. But these programmes have also been mired in controversy about ethical standards, with accusations of widespread faking and rigged votes.

The effect of this apparent revolution has been felt in news and current affairs too. As a result, the very nature of news coverage is changing. Five News has been praised for its ‘Your News’ sections, where viewers use mobile phones to make mini-documentaries about daily life. All the main news stations have email addresses and phone numbers for viewers to ‘get in touch’ with their views, and substantial portions of programmes like BBC Breakfast involve presenters reading out the comments of viewers at home.

If the emphasis in news moves towards accessibility, will the quality of output be diminished? Is the new focus on interaction with the viewing public a sign that news and current affairs is collapsing into an imitation of other in-vogue genres of television? If so, what happens to the traditional goal of objectivity?

 Speakers

Peter Horrocks
head of television news, BBC
Raymond Snoddy
freelance journalist; former presenter, BBC NewsWatch; author, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Guy Rundle
European editor of the Australian Arena magazine
Iain Dale
director of live programming, 18 Doughty Street; political blogger and former Conservative parliamentary candidate
Chair:
Amol Rajan
columnist, Independent titles; advisor to Evgeny Lebedev; author, Twirlymen: the unlikely history of cricket’s greatest spin doctors

 Produced by

Amol Rajan columnist, Independent titles; advisor to Evgeny Lebedev; author, Twirlymen: the unlikely history of cricket’s greatest spin doctors
Claire Fox director, Academy of Ideas; panellist, BBC Radio 4's Moral Maze; author, I Find That Offensive
 Recommended readings

What are we telling the nation?
Should the BBC aspire to making the good popular and the popular good or should it simply respond to the demands of the market place? Or is there perhaps a third way?
David Edgar, London Review of Books, 6 July 2005

The end of the 'noddy' shot is a ray of hope for television
The public has never taken TV seriously because TV execs have never taken the public seriously - but there is hope for the 'idiot box'
Rod Liddle, Spectator, 7 September 2007

In full: Jeremy Paxman's MacTaggart lecture
By trying to give the public what they think it wants, Television disavows its ability to enlighten
Jeremy Paxman, Telegraph, 24 August 2007

Reality TV
Watch Claire Fox News ask, In the wake of the recent Big Brother bullying controversy does reality TV add anything positive to our lives?
Claire Fox News, 18 Doughty Street TV, 19 February 2007

When they stop calling
Scandals over fake phone-ins betray the industry's desperate need to 'connect with the public' through audience participation
Mark Lawson, Guardian, 19 July 2007

recommended by spiked

The television will not be revolutionised
Niall Crowley, 8 March 2006

Dumbing down? Don’t blame the media
Frank Furedi, 14 December 2005

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