Documental

Over the weekend my growing lust for quality documentaries was greatly eased by the discovery of two excellent online film archives dedicated to the underrated artform.

Anyone wanting to see incredible things they've never seen before and that have the power to move them and who has tired of the unreliable cinematic assertion, ‘BASED ON A TRUE STORY’, should get right on to the two websites below, which - somehow - are still provided free of charge to anyone with a net connection.

• PBS Frontline
  which features not only around 50 broadband quality, full length watchable documentaries, but also has fascinating background information on all of them which is fascinating to any journalist or media lover.
  

• Obscured TV
  which features older, hard-to-find documentaries produced by various organisations and again watchable online.

It's especially nice to see that in these times where various investors are about to venture along with YouTube and Veoh into the word of web broadcasting, some websites are already quietly leading the way.

Big Brother turns silent

Where crowds have normally stood baying for blood outside the Big Brother house in London every Friday night, as the contestants wait for a decision on tonight's ‘eviction night’ programme, an eerie silence is the only accompaniment to Mrs McCall's unusually toned-down stand up.

In response to the alleged racist comments made on Celebrity Big Brother and targeted towards contestant Shilpa Shetty, watching the show has actually become more interesting tonight, as the show has a quiet and even tense atmosphere. The process of sorting out of the comments made by Jade Goody, which some have deemed racist, has given the programme a structure and direction it usually lacked.

Although they must now be aware of the issues after Big Brother's pointed questions, (What did you mean when you referred to Shilpa using the term ‘Shilpa Poppadom’?) the housemates are still likely to be surprised by the remarkable coverage the show has received across all media, and from low and high-brow news sources alike; and even around the world. Not to mention the direct pressure the Television Network Channel 4 has felt from the record 30,000 complainants who have taken issue with events on this month's series.

The show is not only going out today without its usual live audience, but as of yesterday, has been stripped of its Carphone Warehouse advertising deal. The mobile phone company's slightly twee adverts formerly wrapped each segment of the programme, and their and muscial stings were part of the big brother package, like the Oakenfold theme tune. It will be interesting to see how much Russell Brand's loudmouthed daily Big Brother review programme has also changed when it airs later this evening.

The web concensus: looking around on web pages and blogs, the verdict generally seems to be that the comments made by Jade were not in fact racist, but that she and her friends were engaging in bullying, and the comments may be excused by her lack of the intelligence needed to realise how hurtful her remarks may have been. The anti-bullying charity with whom Jade was working has taken steps to disassociate itself from her.

Whatever the public as a whole feels, it seems to be the case that no one in their right mind is failing to watch Big Brother, even if they can't stand the reality genre. When David Cameron asked the public to use their ‘off buttons’ to complain about the programme, even Tony Blair had to voice his disapproval in the Commons.

It will be interesting to see how the UK reality genre responds to this challenge: although one must assume that the programme's already elevated ratings must be surging up and up, will ratings start to become secondary to the (very necessary) editorialising that has been going on in recent days?

Boy, 14, sails into the record books

Those watching today's News 24 Coverage around two o'clock today were likely to be disappointed by the coverage of schoolboy sailor Michael Perham's arrival at Antigua after setting out from Gibraltar six weeks ago.

After a slew of technical problems resulting from the blurry, jumpy video stream from the reporter waiting with a crowd at the Antiguan docks to receive his guest, and further problems when Michael actually arrived (‘You're standing on the audio cable!’) it became apparent that other than uttering the word ‘fantastic’ neither Michael nor the person in the studio had any idea about what to say.

In Michael's case, his tiredness no doubt contributed to his brief replies, but the interviewers should have done better to get some single grain of detail from their subject. Perhaps if they had bothered to read his blog or asked any questions beyond the humdrum ‘how do you feel’ rephrased about ten to twenty times something would have come of it.

Michael's arrival was part of a three-way link up connecting him with a presenter in the N24 news studio and with his family home where a second interviewer and his relatives watched those fuzzy images from the BBC broadcast. Although the studio presenter did try to get the other two parties talking, nothing was really said through the technological barrier.

The only people who could string some sentences together were Michael's mother and particularly his grandmother, whose replies seemed to suggest that there had been some tests on the way. But their reponses were not followed up by the interviewer with the simple question ‘What kinds of tests has Michael had to face?’ The Beeb were perhaps unlucky that the most powerful statement, which gave the story some depth of feeling and a sense of a struggle rather than just a relaxed sailing holiday, was his mother's unrepeatable line ‘He's been through some shit.’

I would hope that in future more efforts will be made to get some element of detail other than joyous reaction, which is a necessary part of the story, but shouldn't be the story. It would also be nice if they should do something about the dreadful quality of the sub-webcam technology that is used to meet the demand for pictures in many parts of the globe, but does so very poorly, and with audio often so full of pauses the barely half a report can be heard, as was true in this case.