News 2020
It isn't true yet, but it will be
Media professionals are not paying enough attention to the progress of reality game shows, according to a new study published today.
The study's author, Waldo Sprockett, is an ex-producer of reality game shows and the originator of the popular I Used to be a Celebrity - Get Me Onto There, in which the public can vote for favourite "has-beens" to be allowed into a house for a week of uninterrupted TV exposure.
Mr Sprockett's study claims that, despite the thousands of hours devoted to such shows by the television networks, the news media are still failing to take them seriously either as a cultural phenomenon or as human interest.
"Every now and then you see a report in the papers if someone gets killed, but that's about all," Mr Sprockett told journalists today. "I think there's some danger of becoming jaded about the whole issue, of not taking reality television seriously any more."
Reaction from media professionals was mixed. BBC news editor Boaden Crawley said that the corporation aimed to give the most extensive possible news coverage, but that prioritisation was a factor given the limitations of the diurnal cycle.
Since reality game shows dealt with "genuine events happening in the present", the BBC might consider treating the shows as current affairs programmes rather than light entertainment in future, Mr Sprockett's report suggests. "I would certainly be willing to give such a proposal my sympathetic attention," said Ms Crawley.
Former Guardian editor Allan Fusbudget, who has a long history of not being voted onto I Used to be a Celebrity, denied that there was any danger of game shows being taken insufficiently seriously. "It's the game shows that need to evolve so that viable stories can be made of them," he said.
The media could not be expected to provide saturation coverage every time something happened on a game show, unless it made the front page of the Sun or happened to a member of the Royal Family, Mr Fusbudget added.
Media professionals are not paying enough attention to the progress of reality game shows, according to a new study published today.
The study's author, Waldo Sprockett, is an ex-producer of reality game shows and the originator of the popular I Used to be a Celebrity - Get Me Onto There, in which the public can vote for favourite "has-beens" to be allowed into a house for a week of uninterrupted TV exposure.
Mr Sprockett's study claims that, despite the thousands of hours devoted to such shows by the television networks, the news media are still failing to take them seriously either as a cultural phenomenon or as human interest.
"Every now and then you see a report in the papers if someone gets killed, but that's about all," Mr Sprockett told journalists today. "I think there's some danger of becoming jaded about the whole issue, of not taking reality television seriously any more."
Reaction from media professionals was mixed. BBC news editor Boaden Crawley said that the corporation aimed to give the most extensive possible news coverage, but that prioritisation was a factor given the limitations of the diurnal cycle.
Since reality game shows dealt with "genuine events happening in the present", the BBC might consider treating the shows as current affairs programmes rather than light entertainment in future, Mr Sprockett's report suggests. "I would certainly be willing to give such a proposal my sympathetic attention," said Ms Crawley.
Former Guardian editor Allan Fusbudget, who has a long history of not being voted onto I Used to be a Celebrity, denied that there was any danger of game shows being taken insufficiently seriously. "It's the game shows that need to evolve so that viable stories can be made of them," he said.
The media could not be expected to provide saturation coverage every time something happened on a game show, unless it made the front page of the Sun or happened to a member of the Royal Family, Mr Fusbudget added.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home