Why are the media scared stiff of being studied?
Paul Jackson, ITV’s head of entertainment, admitted last week that some ‘behind-the-scenes’ footage for the new series of talent contest The X Factor was staged. There followed comparison with other recent TV ‘faking’ scandals and hand-wringing about shaken trust in the media. Meanwhile, it was revealed that US drama 24 isn’t actually filmed in real time and a Vatican spokesman was forced to admit that the Pope is Catholic. Almost as predictable as a staged row between the judges on The X Factor was the annual round of moaning as A-level results came out, that too many students study ‘soft options’. Topping the list of subjects to be ridiculed was, as usual, media studies; 32,000 pupils took it this year, 104 per cent more than in 2000. That is more than studied physics, but fewer than took maths or chemistry. The people who deride media studies are probably the same ones who are shocked at the idea of a TV production company editing documentary footage to turn ‘reality’ into entertain
