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PRODUCERS PURSUING THEIR OWN AGENDAOn the other hand there is some sensitivity aboutproducers who appear to put their personal agenda firstand foremost.“Some producers in this area pursue their own agendawithout thinking how to make it palatable to a generalaudience” Ali Rasheed, Real Time“There’s always been a pretty consistent North-Southagenda,done in bits and pieces. But most of the producerswho make these programmes make them out of a sense ofcommitment that they ought to be made. That convictionis vital, but the trouble is they don’t think very hard aboutwho might want to watch them, and how to get people towatch.” Tim Gardam, Channel 4“This is the most blinkered of all the debates abouttelevision. There’s a whole raft of people who think theyhave the right to make programmes on developmentissues without any reference to the audience. And bydevelopmental issue they don’t mean an issue at the coreof the survival or advancement of a developing country.They mean that tension between the developed anddeveloping world. That’s what they are on about. Only. Iwas shocked to find there were people who would not seethat Africa Express was an attempt to modernisecoverage of the developing world, people who continue toexist within their own laager, way back in decades past,when the only thing that mattered was this tensionbetween the First and the Third World” David Lloyd,Channel 4G.5.1.2. Practical problemsSHORTAGE OF AIRTIMENews staff are particularly aware of the airtimelimitations of a news bulletin, and the competition to geta story on.“We are always vying with domestic news stories, so thereisn’t usually time to do features” Al Anstey, ITN“There is always so much to report, so no single type ofstory is going to be covered comprehensively” NigelDacre, ITN“We couldn’t fit in many more foreign stories,with newsprogrammes only about half an hour long. Time is thebiggest problem when it comes to explaining complexstories” Vin Ray, BBC NewsCOST OF FOREIGN PROGRAMME-MAKINGAs discussed under Commissioning Criteria: Budget (G.3.)SHELF-LIFE“Most cable and satellite channels look for a long shelf-lifefor their programmes – around three years – so can’tafford to take anything too topical” Nick Comer-Calder,DiscoveryPERSONAL DANGERA factor for the BBC Holiday team who pulled out ofTurkey and Croatia when advised these would not be safefor tourists. It can of course be an issue for news staff too.PHYSICAL DISTANCE“Physical distance can be a deterrent on developingworld stories. Sometimes it ‘s impossible to get to distantlocations on the same day as the story breaks, and thatcan influence your judgement on whether or not to senda correspondent.” Al Anstey, ITN“It can be difficult to get around when you don’t have thesame journalistic networks you have over here” GeorgeCarey, Mentorn Barraclough CareyGLOBAL CHANGES/BRITISH INSULARITYSome interviewees see television’s apparentlydiminishing interest in world affairs in the context ofcertain global changes.“My personal opinion is that in the ’70s and into the ’80sthere was an appetite for certain international coverage,like environmental programmes. But after the collapse ofthe Berlin Wall foreign budgets moved into EasternEurope, away from the broader global scene” TimGardam, Channel 4“Twenty years ago there were many programmes aboutthe Third World, partly through a paternalistic interest,the legacy of empire, and partly because it was theideological battleground of the Cold War. Now there’smuch less interest” George Carey, Mentorn BarracloughCarey“Somehow the world has got more ‘global’ and yetindividuals have gone more domestic and inward –looking, perhaps because they can’t cope with the scale ofthe change. “ Ali Rasheed, Real TimeSeveral other interviewees speak of the insularity ofthe British audience…“Our focus groups show that the British are more insularthan other Europeans” Nick Comer-Calder, Discovery“We have to link to the audience zeitgeist, and thedeveloping world is not a general interest area to a UKaudience” Chris Shaw, Channel 5DFID – July 2000 165
“The programmes aren’t of interest because they aren’tabout us, and they’re about problems we can’t doanything about” Steve Hewlett, Carlton“The audience is unfamiliar with the subject and notknowledgable. This area of programming breaks withtheir habits and expectations of ITV. There’s possiblysome racism in this resistance too” ITV executive… and of the insularity of journalists and editorsthemselves. Particular reference is made to the rarity ofLatin American coverage.“Traditionally British journalists have only showninterest in Latin America if there’s a disaster or thefootball World Cup is on.” David Boardman, Central“South America is one area in which we have to admit wehaven’t got the balance right. Programme editors don’twant it, unless someone like John Simpson goes there, andthe senior correspondents are more interested in the moretrendy places – which Latin America is not” Vin Ray,BBC NewsDuring the interviews, the use of a hypotheticalprogramme proposal about Bolivian tin miners wasviewed by some commissioning editors as the ultimatechallenge.TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGESSome interviewees think current technological changesare undermining coverage of the developing world. Theyfeel that the increase of specialist digital channels willdraw this coverage away from mainstream television.Others think that the immediacy and ready availabilityof news from around the world will discourage othertypes of factual programmes from abroad, likedocumentaries.Multi-channel structures will encourage niche andbrand specialism“Specialist channels like Nat Geo and Discovery haveundiscovered gems on this subject area, and can devote 24hours to it. That’s a better solution than forcing it intomainstream popular schedules” ITV executive“Our news channel covers serious world affairssubstantially and significantly, while we concentrate onthe fun and entertainment perspective” Mo Joseph, SkyOne“Serious international documentaries are principallydone either by current affairs departments or byspecialist international cable/satellite channels now”André Singer, Café ProductionsTelevision news will become the dominant mediumfor this area of coverage“In the 1960s, documentaries from Vietnam were allvery new to us. But now that information can come liveand immediate on news programmes there is less that isnew to viewers. News has really taken over now ininforming us about the world.” David Liddiment, ITVG.5.2. The programme-makers’ perspectiveWhile some of the points above are endorsed byprogramme-makers, it should be recorded that a numberof programme-makers view the issues of ‘dull’programming and viewer insularity quite differently.G.5.2.1. ‘Dull viewing’: An alternative view“It’s just not true that this output has to be dull, and hasbeen ‘left behind’. It depends on the skill of theprogramme-maker. I’m convinced that programmes canbe made in this area that are as compelling and colourfulas any British docusoap.” Ian Stuttard, BBC“Whether programmes ‘work’, and whethercommissioners want to find a space for them are twoseparate questions. A lot of these programmes did ‘work’,but were clearly not regarded as audience-catching”André Singer, Café Productions“The critics who generalise that programming about thedeveloping world tends to be old-fashioned and dull aremisinformed. Investigative programmes like the ones Ihave worked on with John Pilger and JonathonDimbleby are not dull, and the feedback we get showsthis, even if the ratings are not high” David Boardman,Central.“Anything can be made to work. That’s our craft. Ifpeople are just talking ‘issues’, it’s my job to see what Iwill film. There’ve got to be pictures. So if the issue is debtrelief, what pictures are we going to see?” George Alagiah,BBC News“Anything can be made to work if enough imagination isused. Debt cancellation could be tricky. But even then, agood film relating debt to village life could work” GeorgeCarey, Mentorn Barraclough Carey“No subject is off limit. Even international debt. There’snothing that can’t be made into good television with theright approach” Charles Tremayne, Granada166 DFID – July 2000
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issuesDFIDDepartmentforInternationa
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Introduction to the Three-Part Stud
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MethodologiesI. Content study condu
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III. Production study conducted by
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ContentsA. Key Findings 3A.1. Conte
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A. Key FindingsA.1.●●●●●
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B. SummariesB.1.Content Study(Glasg
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ulletins, followed by aid/developme
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travel/adventure programmes in the
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EXERCISE 4: COMIC RELIEFGroups were
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Cookery programmes seemed to bring
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Content and Audience Studies(Glasgo
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events. Jamaica featured only in sp
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Comparing Figures 1, 2 and 3 shows
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Figure 6: BBC coverage of the devel
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and Newsnight were also much more l
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Figure 1: Number of references made
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Newscaster: Well of course they may
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A fifth possible consequence of the
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American accusations of discriminat
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the desire of the small scale farme
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industry in considerable detail. Th
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statement made. The wide range and
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C.2.2.3. The Presidential elections
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The Newsnight report on the electio
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work in the South. Nobody will allo
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fashion, but they are not allowed t
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attack. Sky News reported, ‘It is
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There is little explanation of why
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these thugs which stated that they
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differentiated continent, with many
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ambassador, Humberto De La Calle wa
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say the government is doing nothing
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of the violence and civil war which
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education. The reporter then linked
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A significant section of BBC1’s s
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Although a range of countries are i
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pop stars supported a big campaign
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discussion of the total so far achi
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We’ve had a number of Britons ove
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the introduction to the feature, wi
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with the question he posed at the e
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numerous references to the improved
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public opinion was adverse to it an
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have a vested interest in the judge
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family are about to leave Nigeria f
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had helped orphaned children in Uga
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There are 100,000 widows in Rwanda
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victims without engendering a total
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minimum payments and the totals mus
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Programme title Channel Date Destin
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into. Little background information
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TOURIST DEVELOPMENTThere is a disti
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Guide: I think that the mere fact t
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For many visitors this is their fir
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I was a third of the way through my
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inhabiting an isolated Mongolian vi
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well as its Southern tip. It was wi
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Six million people are crammed into
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magpie approach to the countries he
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Page 127 and 128: HISTORYPinochet and Allende: The An
Page 129 and 130: Trailblazers where to varying exten
Page 131 and 132: D.1.3. Group discussionOnce the exe
Page 133 and 134: Dominican Republic for 14 nights al
Page 135 and 136: NATURAL HISTORY/WILDLIFEMost respon
Page 137 and 138: Moderator: Do you like Comic Relief
Page 139 and 140: 1st: There’s only so much you can
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Page 147 and 148: 1st: They haven’t even got an eco
Page 149 and 150: government would have to really get
Page 151 and 152: world as not much more than a serie
Page 153 and 154: F. Appendix: Countries of the devel
Page 155 and 156: G. Production Study (3WE)G.1.G.1.1.
Page 157 and 158: NEWSRichard Ayre, Deputy Chief Exec
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Page 161 and 162: G.2.2.6. Belief in regulatory prote
Page 163 and 164: gloomy, so we call our programmes
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Page 167 and 168: what their audience wants and we le
Page 169 and 170: “Problems and issues have traditi
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Page 175 and 176: G.5.3. What does work on television
Page 177 and 178: “Pre-trailed news stories are bec
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Page 181 and 182: H. ConclusionTelevision output that
Page 183 and 184: I. RecommendationsIt could therefor
Page 185: editors it has been pursued with in
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World

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