Topic > Factual Programming: Issues, Codes and Conventions

Before any factual program is produced, some issues need to be kept in mind to ensure that the right message is conveyed and to ensure that the factual program is produced in the right style. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Every fact-based program needs to make sure that the facts and information it tells its audience are accurate. The facts must be correct. This requires careful research to ensure that no facts provided in the show are incorrect. This assures the audience that all information is correct and if the producers of this certain fact-based programming consistently stick to this, the audience may start to build trust in the messages the programs are telling. Some fact-based programs should check whether the production is balanced, impartial and objective. Balance is about making sure that bias doesn't occur. This would also be known as a false equilibrium. This is to ensure that each topic of a specific point is equally represented equally. This will ensure that the fact-based program will appeal to audiences from both sides of the argument. Being impartial means not influencing any side of the argument and having a balance. Personal views must be put aside. For a fact-based program to be unbiased, you need to hire a reputable host or editor to ensure it is successful. Being objective means having a lack of bias, judgment or prejudice, having balance and being impartial. Direct opposite to subjectivity. This will ensure that the fact-based program can appeal to audiences on both sides of the issue. If, however, a fact-based production seeks a false balance, then subjectivity and prejudice should be aimed at. To be subjective is to have a bias, judgment, or prejudice. Not having balance and not being impartial. Directly opposite to objectivity, this will please the audience on one side of the issue but will not please the audience on the other side of the issue, which could cause a negative reaction on social media. Having a prejudice means leaving one side of the issue out. story for the benefit of the other. This will only appeal to the audience on one side of the argument and anger the other audience. Representation is important in factual programming. Representation is the way the media portrays certain groups, communities, experiences, ideas, or topics. It could also be known as stereotype. Fact-based programs must be accessible to all audiences to spread their message to as many viewers as possible. Access refers to how digital, web, and broadcast content can be used, read, or viewed by people with disabilities. This opens the factual program to a wider audience. Others who participate in the factual program may want their information to be private such as facial identification, names, date of birth, etc. People who want privacy may want to isolate themselves and information about themselves. Express yourself selectively. Going against a person's wishes regarding privacy would be against the law and could end up in court if not followed. Additionally, code and conventions need to be taken into account. Five of the many codes and conventions are news, documentary, realism, dramatization and narrativism. News is a report of noteworthy new information, especially recent events. This is done locally or globally.This informs the audience of information they may not know or want to know more about. A documentary is a factual report on a specific topic produced on television or radio that uses interviews and images to further ensure that points are made for or against something about the topic. Realism is accepting a situation and preparing to deal with it appropriately. It represents a topic in a true to life way. No facts are changed or left out and none of the facts are exaggerated. Dramatization is a re-enactment of real events. It is also known as docu-drama. This is done to show the narrative of the documentary more clearly to the audience. This can also be known as documentary theater. This may provide an opportunity to exaggerate the topic. A narrativism displays events to the audience in narrative form. This is also known as storytelling. This may allow the audience to better understand the topic or message being told in the documentary. The audience can build a relationship with the characters and develop their own opinions about the characters. This is a unique way to portray the message the story is trying to tell. I recently watched two fact-based shows. One is Stacey Dooley Investigates: Gypsy Kids Taken From Home, produced in February 2018 on BBC 3. Another is Banged Up Abroad Jamaican Getaway, produced in August 2009 on Channel 5 or National Geographics. Stacey Dooley Investigates: Gypsy Kids Taken From Homes follows several issues, codes and conventions. The documentary ensures that the facts are accurate. They do this by saying they have done secondary research. They also do primary research within the production with the interviews they do on camera. They do this to demonstrate that the research is being done while also doing on-camera interviews for entertainment purposes. The host makes sure the production is balanced by giving the people she interviews the benefit of the doubt by hearing both sides of the story. Stacey Dooley listens to both sides of the argument before providing her input and giving her opinion on the topic for the audience to hear. This also means that Stacey Dooley in the production was not impartial. This is because Stacey Dooley always expresses her personal opinion at the end of an interview or after an event occurs. However, this does not mean that she was unbalanced as she listened to both sides of the story before expressing the opinions she expressed on camera to the public. Stacey Dooley showed some objectivity while also showing some subjectivity. He showed objectivity by hearing both sides of the story with interviews shown during production. However, he also showed subjectivity by expressing his own opinions, which means having a bias and judgment. Stacey Dooley is prejudiced because she has an opinion that shows her preference towards a certain side of the argument which she clearly expresses on screen. Performance is an important part of the production. In the documentary, media opinions about Gypsy children and Hungary as a country are mentioned and supported by social media posts. This production also shows how some Hungarians view Roma children and families and how they treat them. The documentary is accessible on television and on the web via BBC IPlayer. The people who appeared in this production allowed their voices and faces to be shown and some did not. This is a documentary in that it is a factual account of real life events. This consists of realism as the events are demonstrated on camera and the host constantly says that something should be done about it and the people.