Week 1: Historiography

This week’s lecture and readings focused on Historiography, the issues of writing media history (Long and Wall, 2012), and the history of Public Service Broadcasting (Creeber, 2003). I also read ‘The History of Television Celebrity: A Discursive Approach’ by Andrew Tolson (2015), who discusses how the term ‘Celebrity’ was used to describe TV personalities during the 50s and 60s. In Glen Creeber’s (2003) work, he gives a chronology of public service broadcasting, including events such as the introduction of commercial television, and the challenge of the BBC to inform and educate while also competing for audiences and avoiding an ‘aerial anarchy’ - similar to the US at that time. This approach to media history could be labelled ‘socio-cultural’, as Creeber displays the ways in which this medium and its ‘form and function are determined by contexts’ (Long and Wall, 2012). However, in Long and Wall’s text they warn that how we understand history is a ‘selective nature’. It is possible to pinpoint areas in the text where facts have been selected to create a specific idea of history. Creeber mentions that Lord Reith had a strict religious background which consciously or not, causes the reader to think of him (and his faith) as the sole cause for regulations on the BBC, when there could be many other factors. He also says that more contemporary listeners could “finally choose to be ‘improved’ rather than ‘having improvement thrust upon her.’” which paints suggests a forceful and oppresive system run under Reith. Choosing that quote from Andrew Crisell (1997) makes the author’s presence known in the supposedly objective account. Andrew Tolson (2015) uses the TV Times magazines from the 50s and 60s to examine how and why the labels of ‘celebrity’, ‘star’ and ‘personality’ were used for TV performers in this period and how its definition has changed. He uses these labels to determine what popular culture considered significant (in that period, the range was from sports legends to musicians). This history is an aesthetic approach to celebrity and popular culture, but an issue with this account is that it does not include enough interpretation. It does not make any reference to social, political, economical or technological contexts, it only gives a partial view of history. I would research why these individuals were considered celebrities back then, but may not be classed as one today. Another way that this historiography is not completely well rounded is because of a lack of sources. Tolson compiled evidence from the TV times, without looking at other platforms of the time. The magazines were sourced from an archive, and I would include more of a range.

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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

Crisell, A. (1997). An introductory history of British broadcasting. 1st ed. London: Routledge.

Long, P and Wall, T (2012) ‘Media Histories’ IN Media Studies: Texts, Production, Context (2nd Edition), London: Pearson. pp 448 – 481

Tolson, A. (2015). The history of television celebrity: a discursive approach. Celebrity Studies, 6(3), pp.341-354.