Devaluation of Documentary: the Film and Talk Show in Socio-Political Television Broadcasting

Section: Television and Radio

The documentary film today is no longer an indispensable component of daily broadcasts of the leading TV channels. The subject matter of the film is limited to the cultural and entertainment segment, and its propaganda potential is not sought after by political broadcasting. The evolution of the talk show, which ousted the film on the Rossiya 1 channel, included attempts to introduce the film into their structure though it was more of an excuse than a topic of discussion. In the talk show, the semantic uncertainty of the documentary shot was revealed, allowing for differences in interpretation, while in the news stream it becomes increasingly difficult to differentiate the fiction/ factual cinematic genesis of the shots. The desire for a visual variety complementing the verbal search for meaning in the talk show leads to new forms of exploitation of “life” shots for formal and decorative screen imagery. In the general process of devaluation of the documentary reflection of reality, the films centered on the figure of the President of the Russian Federation retain a special status.

DOI: 10.30547/vestnik.journ.2.2019.5273

References:

Abdullayeva Z. (2011) Postdok. Igrovoye/neigrovoye [Postdoc. Fiction/nonfiction]. Moscow: Novoye literaturnoye obozreniye Publ. (In Russian)

Barnouw E. (1993) Documentary. A History of the Non-Fiction Film. New York: Oxford University Press.

Corner J. (1996) The Art of Record: A Critical Introduction to Documentary. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Dolgova Y. I. (2015) Fenomen populyarnosti obshchestvenno-politicheskikh tok-shou na rossiyskom TV osen’yu 2014 goda — vesnoy 2015 goda [The Phenomenon of Popularity of Socio-Political Talk Shows on Russian TV in the Fall of 2014 — Spring of 2015]. Vestn. Mosk. un-ta. Ser. 10: Zhurnalistika 6: 162— 177. (In Russian)

Drobashenko S. V. (1972) Fenomen do stove rnosti. Ocherki teorii dokumental'nogo fil'ma [The Phenomenon of Authenticity. Essays on the Theory of Documentary]. Moscow: Nauka Publ. (In Russian)

Drobashenko S. V. (1986) Prostranstvo e'krannogo dokumenta [The Space of Screen Documents]. Moscow: Iskusstvo Publ. (In Russian)

Dzhulay L. N. (2001) Dokumental’nyy illyuzion [Documentary Illusion]. Moscow: Materik. (In Russian)

Ellis J. C., McLane B. A. (2005) A New History of Documentary Film. New York, London: Continuum.

Herman E. S., Chomsky N. (2002) Manufacturing Consent. New York: Pantheon.

Hicks J. (2007) Dziga Vertov: Defining Documentary Film. London, New York: I. B. Tauris, Palgrave Macmillan

Kuzneczov G. V., Czvik V. L., Yurovskij A. Ya. (eds.) (2005) Televizionnaya zhurnalistika: uchebnik [Television Journalism: textbook]. Moscow: Moscow St. Univ. Publ.; Nauka Publ. (In Russian)

Mal'kova L. (2006) Sovremennost' kak istoriya. Realizaciya mifa v dokumental'nom kino [Modernity as History. Realization of the Myth in Documentary Films]. Moscow: Materik Publ. (In Russian)

Mal’kova L. Y. (2015) Propaganda: yedinstvo polemicheskoy formy i dokumental’noy obraznosti rossiyskogo TV [Propaganda: the Unity of Polemic Forms and Documentary Images of Russian TV]. Vestnik VGIK 2 (24): 126—140. (In Russian)

Muratov S. (2009) Dokumental'ny'j telefil'm. Nezakonchennaya biografiya [Documentary Television Film. The Unfinished Biography]. Moscow: VK Publ. (In Russian)

Nelson R. A. (1996) A Chronology and Glossary of Propaganda in the United States. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Nichols B. (2001) Introduction to Documentary. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.

Prozhiko G. S. (2004) Kontseptsiya real’nosti v ekrannom dokumente [Conception of Reality in Screen Documents]. Moscow: VGIK Publ. (In Russian)

Rosenthal A., Corner J. (2005) New Challenges for Documentary. New York, Manchester: Manchester University Press. 

Winston B. (1995) Claiming the Real: The Documentary Film Revisited. London: British Film Institute.

Zvereva N. V. (2004) Shkola regionalnogo zhurnalista: uchebnoeposobie dlya studentov vuzov [School of Regional Journalist: textbook for university students]. Moscow: Aspekt Press Publ. (In Russian)