Task 5

INTRODUCTION

1. Different values of public service broadcasters and commercial TV typically

• PSB’s have a remit to entertain and educate
• Commercial channels need to make money through advertising so just appeal to the mainstream to gain mass audiences
• Best done through entertainment shows
• Appeal to the working class as they have the most time for TV, the elite are too busy for that

2. Why do people watch reality TV? Uses and gratifications

3. Why do people watch BBC reality/talent shows such as The Apprentice?

• A challenging watch - highbrow
• Audiences learn from the tasks as well as being entertained by them
• Learn from the journey that the contestants go through as we are going through it with them – fly-on-the-wall/voyeurism adds to this, voice over guides us through it
• Audiences aspire to become more intellectual so they can achieve the successes of the contestants
• Makes us feel more intelligent
• Audiences can interact on a more intellectual basis – “Did you watch The Apprentice yesterday?” makes you sound more intelligent than “Did you watch The X Factor yesterday?”
• Does it change us as audiences?
• Is it making us obsessed with money?
• Media effects, cultivation theory

4. Why do people watch ITV reality/talent shows such as The X Factor?

• Light entertainment - lowbrow
• Don’t have to think
• Relaxed
• Social interaction
• Everyone watches The X Factor – if you don’t, there’s something wrong with you and you will be isolated by society
• We can vote - audience participation, interactive media
• Afghan Star – people selling cars for the money to vote, first taste of democracy
• We can see the effect that we are having on the show - give people celebrity status

5. Why do commercial channels such as ITV not make more educational shows?

• Is there a place for educational talent shows on commercial channels?
• Commercial channels need mainstream audiences to make money so their main purpose is to entertain
• Have to have mass audience appeal
• The failure of Tycoon
• Are BBC audiences just more elite and intelligent than commercial audiences?
• Popularity is increasing (move from BBC2 to BBC1), but will it ever increase to the point of mainstream popularity, meaning commercial channels will take it on?
• PSB and commercial TV, Hegemony

6. Do we need a narrative to make us enjoy watching something, making it less about the intelligence that we get from it, but a less deep audience pleasure?

• All television has been mediated
• There is no actuality
• Are we watching for the educational content or just for the story/narrative?
• Is it still dumbing down audiences if we need a constructed narrative?
• Uses and gratifications, dumbing down, structuralism

7. The future of reality TV if the BBC disappears?

• Not good
• Entertainment shows are considered to be ‘dumbing down’ audiences
• Light entertainment holds little value
• Audiences gain nothing from them – no intelligence, education
• If the BBC disappears, we will be left with commercial TV, full of light entertainment and no intellectual value
• Our children will grow up with no intelligence
• Stuart Hall

CONCLUSION