Overview

The People We Watch explores the politics of contemporary media production from the point of view of the ordinary people it represents. Based upon a series of in-depth interviews and the author’s own professional experience of working in the television industry, this book examines how documentary contributors feel about participating in the media and the ways they are portrayed, considering how their experiences take shape within the structural context of the cultural industries. This insightful text will interest scholars, students, and researchers in media and communication, sociology of the media, documentary studies, and film studies, as well as those studying the cultural industries, media production, creative labour, and cultural policy. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 International license. Any third party material in this book is not included in the OA Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. Please direct any permissions enquiries to the original rightsholder. This work was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council [grant number AH/L503848/1]; and the Economic and Social Research Council [grant number ES/Y007808/1].

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9781032941035

Table of Contents

Reviews

“The People We Watch opens up a brilliant and nuanced interrogation of the documentary subject at the heart of contemporary television production through careful empirical research with the voices of participants and crew. Given the current spotlight on the treatment of those involved in making television, read this book to understand the important ethical and civic questions at stake for the industry and for future research.” Helen Wood, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies, University of Aston, Birmingham, UK. “This wonderful study breaks new ground by listening to the ordinary people who contribute to “factual” television. It’s an extraordinarily skilful and important contribution to media industry studies and to documentary scholarship.” David Hesmondhalgh, Professor of Media, Music and Culture, University of Leeds ""The People We Watch is a meticulously researched, sensitive look at the making of documentary television programmes and the oft-neglected perspectives of the ordinary people who agree to appear in them. This book is a gem for scholars, producers, and lovers of nonfiction media."" Ruth Palmer, IE University

“The People We Watch opens up a brilliant and nuanced interrogation of the documentary subject at the heart of contemporary television production through careful empirical research with the voices of participants and crew. Given the current spotlight on the treatment of those involved in making television, read this book to understand the important ethical and civic questions at stake for the industry and for future research.” Helen Wood, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies, University of Aston, Birmingham, UK. “This wonderful study breaks new ground by listening to the ordinary people who contribute to “factual” television. It’s an extraordinarily skilful and important contribution to media industry studies and to documentary scholarship.” David Hesmondhalgh, Professor of Media, Music and Culture, University of Leeds ""The People We Watch is a meticulously researched, sensitive look at the making of documentary television programs and the oft neglected perspectives of the ordinary people who agree to appear in them. This book is a gem for scholars, producers, and lovers of nonfiction media."" Ruth Palmer, IE University

Author Information

Emily Coleman is a postdoctoral fellow at King’s College London, whose research has been supported by both the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Economic and Social Research Council. Previously, she worked in the TV industry for over 15 years, producing and directing factual programmes and documentaries for the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, and Sky.

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