Social Issues in Primetime Television: Production Processes and Audience Responses
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leeds
Department Name: Sch of Design
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Organisations
Publications
Klein B
(2011)
Entertaining ideas: social issues in entertainment television
in Media, Culture & Society
Klein B
(2013)
Entertainment-education for the media-saturated: Audience perspectives on social issues in entertainment programming
in European Journal of Cultural Studies
| Description | This research has advanced the empirical understanding of producer and audience relationships to entertainment television that addresses social issues. Through interviews with writers, directors and producers, the project considered the delicate balance of roles and responsibilities generated by entertainment television content that offers unconventional perspectives on social issues. It revealed that programme makers may be hesitant to embrace the role of educator, but descriptions of their work suggest a critical pedagogic approach that encourages deliberation in the popular public sphere. Further, drawing on focus groups with television viewers in the UK, the project explored the ways in which audiences engage with and draw on entertainment television in discussions of social issues that have conventionally been framed narrowly across news and entertainment media. It demonstrated how entertainment television offers the possibility of broadening resources and encouraging deliberation, though assumptions about the role of entertainment television are reflected in audience scepticism about the appropriateness of using such programming as a basis for considering the social world. One key advance of the research is in its combination of theories not typically brought together: the entertainment-education strategy, and communication research into social and political representations on entertainment television. Examining the arguments across these areas starts to clarify shared objectives and assumptions, and suggests that political communication theory might learn from ideas and strategies employed typically in narrowly defined circumstances (developing countries and children's programming) to enhance our understanding of the possible role of entertainment television for audiences in media-saturated, developed countries. |
| Exploitation Route | This publications that resulted from the project contribute to an ongoing dialogue taking place among and between media researchers and media producers about the ways in which entertainment programming is classified, funded and valued. |
| Sectors | Education,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Description | Organised event with BBC: Beyond news: how TV covers social issues |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This was an evening event hosted by the BBC College of Journalism to launch the research into the way social issues are portrayed in entertainment TV. Dr Bethany Klein discussed her research into how TV drama reflects social issues and was joined by a panel of practitioner and academic experts. A lively Q&A session and discussion followed. The BBC event was more high-profile than originally conceived, resulting in an excellent range of participants (panellists included director and writer Peter Kosminsky and EastEnders series consultant Simon Ashdown) and attendees (including BBC news and politics reporters, charity representatives and scholars in the field). The BBC College of Journalism's outputs, including a blog post (http://www.bbc.co.uk/ journalism/blog/2010/09/event-society-and-entertainmen.shtml) and YouTube video of the PI's talk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVXxih1JHko), complemented the executive summary and talk prepared by the researchers for the event. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| URL | http://www.bbc.co.uk/journalism/blog/2010/09/event-society-and-entertainmen.shtml |