Documentary Genre

• A documentary is documenting something that has actually happened, therefore real life events.
• They provide the audience with an insight into a topic they may not know about
• Documentaries have a main purpose to inform but they can educate an audience about a topic
• However this must be done in an entertaining way to sustain the audiences attention and interest
• John Grierson came up with the term documentary in 1926, in the same year the BBC turned corporation
• Today the audience has more choice because of audience fragmentation due to both digital and satellite television
• Moreover from narrow casting there are specific channels devoted to documentaries such as Eden and Natural History.