Week 1 - Television, Film and Video Media Reading Diary

Week 1 - Historiography

This week we began considering historiography in relation to television and film. In the key readings, the origins of public service broadcasting are discussed as well as an introduction into how the media are involved in writing histories themselves (Long, P and Wall, T, 2012, p.457). This concept allowed me to understand that due to radio broadcasts or television programmes capturing moments of history, media texts are an aspect of the materiality of history (Long, P and Wall, T, 2012, p.458).

The lecture focussed on the industry, institution and history of the television and public service broadcasting. This led us to investigate the history of the British Broadcasting Company (BBC). We discussed the theories of Matthew Arnold and his views on culture and class and how they effected John Reith’s (founder of BBC) views. The reading that attracted me was one where I considered the origins of public service broadcasting, learning how and why Britain in comparison to the US began to broadcast via licences which would have to be paid annually. This was an attempt to avoid such a seemingly chaotic and commercialised system traveling across the Atlantic (Creeber, G, 2003, p.23).

The reading that I have acquired for this week explores how history is written and focusses on the change in how history is looked at, relating to media. The book highlights the changes throughout the 20th Century in regards to technology, focussing mainly on television, and relating to movies as evidence. The author considers how history is now viewed in comparison to the days when technology was a mere thing, she states that now, historiography is about arranging and telling stories, not about delivering objective truth (Sobchach, V, 1996, p.4). The author believes that history has become a commodity – something to be “fixed” according to maximum consumer desire (Sobchach, V, 1996, p.7). To support this statement, Sobchach uses the Disney movie “Pocahontas” as a prime example of the television and film industry re-writing history to be beneficial for the audience. She also states that new technology has collapsed the temporal distance between present, past, and future (Sobchach, V, 1996, p.7).

Picking out my own reading allowed me to look at historiography in media through a different perspective and allow me to see not only the benefits of media history but also the drawbacks and the effects it has had on today’s society. In terms of my own research related to historiography, I would ensure that what I write is factual and non-biased. The readings gave me an understanding of media as history and brought up a thinking point on how genuine history is before media technologies.

References

Long, P and Wall, T (2012) Media Studies: Texts, Production, Context (2nd Edition), London: Pearson.

Creeber, Glen (2003) The Origins of Public Service Broadcasting (British Television Before the War) in Michele Hilmes (ed.) (2003) The Television History Book. London: BFI. Pp.22-26

Sobchack, Vivian (1996) The Persistence of History: Cinema, Teleivison and the Modern Event. P.1-13