Screen Lives: What the experiences of documentary contributors tell us about the media

The overall aim of this fellowship is to have a positive impact upon the wellbeing of the ordinary people
who take part in media productions and the ways they are represented, by influencing working
practices, policy, and public debates. This will be achieved through a programme of activities designed
to make the findings of my research accessible to influential audiences - including academics, industry
bodies, and the general public.
From the public discourse, we might surmise that contributing to the media is an ambivalent
proposition at best. Contributors are derided as fame-hungry, greedy and narcissistic on the one hand,
and naive victims of the other (Winston, 1988; De Benedictis et al., 2017). Yet despite the increasing
centrality of media participation in everyday life, surprisingly little sociological interest has been paid to
the actual people involved. Their dual status, as both insiders and outsiders, both subject and object,
affords them a unique perspective; but furthermore, means that their experiences can reveal a great
deal about the politics of the media.
A key finding of my research is that the wellbeing of media contributors is inextricably tied to the
production environment, which has been fundamentally reshaped by the deregulation of the industry.
Until the 1980s, a comfortable duopoly of the BBC and ITV broadcast to a captive audience, reaching
tens of millions of viewers every night. Since then, the launch of the independent production sector,
multi-channel television, the Internet, TV on demand, and streaming services are among a multitude of
developments which have led to the creation of a hyper-competitive media environment and a
fragmented audience (Hesmondhalgh, 2018). Media research to date has tended to focus upon the
experiences of workers in the creative industries, but the consequences of political-economic
reorganisation ripple out far beyond the paid workforce, to everyone who participates.
The impact of structural changes upon ordinary people has scarcely figured within policy debates and
the public discourse, which typically revolve around vulnerable participants and the effects of social
media trolling upon their mental health. The industry has made considerable investments in
psychological screening and aftercare, but my findings suggest these measures are unlikely to address
many of the fundamental causes of contributor distress (Coleman, 2023).
The purpose of this fellowship is to contribute to a growing debate about duty of care and how it is
conceptualised within the creative industries, encouraging policy-makers to look beyond quick-fix
solutions and make the workplace a fairer and safer environment. As a former TV producer, I will use
my professional contacts to publicise my research amongst the industry, circulating my findings to
executives at broadcasters and production companies, in order to reshape the conversation
surrounding duty of care, and make an impact upon future policy directions.
To develop the field of research within academia, I plan to turn my thesis into a monograph,
making my findings accessible to future researchers, and raising the profile of these important issues.
As the first book-length publication to examine the media industries from the perspective of its
subjects, this monograph has the potential to make a significant impact upon the wider scholarship.
These activities will be supported through regular mentoring sessions with Dr Christina Scharff, who is
a leading international scholar in the field of creative work and the cultural industries, with shared
interests in subjectivity, social justice, and qualitative research. In these sessions, I will be able to
discuss my work in progress and receive feedback on my manuscript. The fellowship will give me the opportunity to maximise the value of my research, and develop the core skills I need to support my transition into academia.