Footnotes
1. Diffusion of Innovations, by Everett M. Rogers, Fourth Edition, 1995, Free Press, New York.
Valenti, T.W., Poppe, P.R., & Merritt, A.P. Journal of Health Communication, 5(3), 207-227. 1996.
2. “Our Ratings, Ourselves” by Jon Gertner, New York Times, April 10, 2005.
3. Congress has mandated that all analog television stations (there are 1,600 of them) must complete the switchover to digital by February 17, 2009. While structural changes are being negotiated in advance of that date, television will remain the primary source of information consumption. Indeed, a recent report noted that in 2004, despite the new media alternatives, Americans are watching more television than ever before (“Average Person Spends More Time Using Media than Anything Else,” available at http://www.bsu.edu/up/article/0,1370,32363-2914-36658,00.html). Additionally, the population across most of the world (except China) has increased its television consumption (BBC News, April 12, 2005) to all-time highs.
4. “Want Stealth with That?” by Michael Joseph Gross, New York Times, October 30, 2005.
5. “Feeding the Consumer Beast, One Media at a Time,” by Greg Lindsay, AdAge, January 3, 2006.
6. “TMT Trends: Predictions, 2005” by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.
7. “The Feel-Good-Feel-Bad Movie,” by A.O. Scott, New York Times, March 27, 2005.
8. “The Supposed and the Real Role of Mass Media in Modern Democracy,” by Agner Fog, Working Paper, May 20, 2004, available at http://www.agner.org/cultsel/mediacrisis.pdf.
9. The Council on Foundations’ annual film festival is a showcase for social issue documentaries (among others). These films are predominantly foundation-funded and their inclusion in the festival is an indication of their success as defined by foundation funders. For the purposes of this report, we analyzed the budgets, distribution outlets, scheduling (when available), and number of funders participating in the festival by year (from 1986 to 2003). Although it is a small data pool with inconsistent reporting, the trend that emerges is clear and corroborates what interviewees told us. The data indicates that there has been a reduction of more than 25% in the number of funders funding social issue documentaries between the first nine years we examined and the last nine years. It also shows there has been an increase in the non-prime-time, national carriage of these films on television. And an increasing number have not received broadcast at all (though more films were screened at festivals and in theatrical runs in the second half of the time period). The data was culled from the festival’s Web site: http://www.fundfilm.org/films/films_list.cfm and from research at individual project sites and in press coverage.
10. “Academy Considers 15 Docs,” by Gregg Kilday and Gregg Goldstein, Hollywood Reporter, November 16, 2005.
11. “Desperate No More? Networks See a Rebound in Viewers,” by Brooks Barnes, The Wall Street Journal, May 25, 2005.
12. See summaries in Appendix A.
13. Middletown Media Studies, 2, September 2005, Ball State University.
14. Gregory Lamb, Christian Science Monitor, September 28, 2005.
15. “Coming Soon to TV Land: The Internet, Actually.” by John Markoff, New York Times, January 7, 2006.
16. Adapted from “Pop Goes the World.” by Don Aucoin, Boston Globe, October 11, 2005.
17. “Channels Bloom, and Viewers Pick.” by Lynn Smith, Los Angeles Times, March 2, 2006.
18. “Our Ratings, Ourselves,” by Jon Gertner, New York Times, April 10, 2005.
19. “Nice shootin', Tex,” by Jackie Chowns, Sydney Morning Herald, July 15, 2005.
20. “Nonfiction Is Flavor of Moment for Films,” by Caryn James, New York Times, May 25, 2005.
21. “Birth of a Salesman,” by Daniel Gross, Fortune, August 8, 2005.
22. “The Reel Deal: It's the Golden Age of the Documentary as Nonfiction Films Finally Go Mainstream,” by Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter, December 11, 2003.
23. According to the Web site http://www.leesmovieinfo.net (which gathers published data from industry sources), “Fahrenheit 9/11” grossed over $240 million, and “Super Size Me” grossed over $35 million.
24. What’s Up Docs,” by Jean Grillo, Variety, June 12, 2005.
25. For a presentation of the scheduling issues surrounding “limited series” documentaries, see “Framework for a Public Television Prime Time Strategy – the 2005 edition” (available from CPB at: http://www.cpb.org/stations/npsresearch/framework_ptv_primetime_strategy.pdf ). CPB also commissioned research on the role of documentaries in the national program schedule, which gave the viewers’ perspective that only dedicated viewers followed strands; most others channel surfed to find documentaries. See “2005 Consumer Insight Research on Primetime Public Television – The Changing Viewing Landscape and the Role of Documentary and Performance Programming in the NPS,” January 2006, Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
26. “The Reel Deal,” by Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter, December 11, 2003.
27. The Center for Social Media has produced a good and more extensive overview of funding and distribution of social documentaries in its 2003 publication, “In the Battle for Reality: Social Documentaries in the U.S.,” http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/battle/index.htm.
28. http://www.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=23.
29. These estimates come from the Web site: www.leesmovieinfo.net.
30. “Two New TV Series Are Liberal and Proud,” by Felicia R. Lee, New York Times, February 18, 2006.
31. The number of students majoring in film or communications has skyrocketed. The publisher of the Columbia Journalism Review told us that many colleges and universities see this as a great boon, a “cash cow.” Others are concerned that there are not enough jobs for their graduates, that the wages for recent graduates are low, and that graduates often must await long unpaid internships.
32. “Join a Revolution. Make Movies. Go Broke…The medium is more accessible than ever. So is bankruptcy,” by Charles Lyons, New York Times, November 20, 2005.
33. “'Bubble' hits theaters, TV, DVD on same day,” by Gary Gentile, Associated Press, January 18, 2006.
34. “Highly political films make Hollywood skittish, so filmmakers with strong messages go straight to DVD, which are sold on the Internet” by Elaine Dutka, Los Angeles Times, December 6, 2005.
35. “For $1 You Too, Can Be an Executive Producer,” Charles Lyons, New York Times, May 22, 2005.
36. “Red-Blue Divide Comes to DVD Clubs,” by Clayton Collins, The Christian Science Monitor, February 24, 2006.
37. “Feature Distribution: Straight-to-video ain’t so bad,” by Kimberly Brown, RealScreen, January 1, 2005.
38. Nielsen Media Research, “Competitive Program Analysis, 12/27/2004 to 12/27/2005.”
39. Press release, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, April 11, 2005.
40. Ibid.
Valenti, T.W., Poppe, P.R., & Merritt, A.P. Journal of Health Communication, 5(3), 207-227. 1996.
2. “Our Ratings, Ourselves” by Jon Gertner, New York Times, April 10, 2005.
3. Congress has mandated that all analog television stations (there are 1,600 of them) must complete the switchover to digital by February 17, 2009. While structural changes are being negotiated in advance of that date, television will remain the primary source of information consumption. Indeed, a recent report noted that in 2004, despite the new media alternatives, Americans are watching more television than ever before (“Average Person Spends More Time Using Media than Anything Else,” available at http://www.bsu.edu/up/article/0,1370,32363-2914-36658,00.html). Additionally, the population across most of the world (except China) has increased its television consumption (BBC News, April 12, 2005) to all-time highs.
4. “Want Stealth with That?” by Michael Joseph Gross, New York Times, October 30, 2005.
5. “Feeding the Consumer Beast, One Media at a Time,” by Greg Lindsay, AdAge, January 3, 2006.
6. “TMT Trends: Predictions, 2005” by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.
7. “The Feel-Good-Feel-Bad Movie,” by A.O. Scott, New York Times, March 27, 2005.
8. “The Supposed and the Real Role of Mass Media in Modern Democracy,” by Agner Fog, Working Paper, May 20, 2004, available at http://www.agner.org/cultsel/mediacrisis.pdf.
9. The Council on Foundations’ annual film festival is a showcase for social issue documentaries (among others). These films are predominantly foundation-funded and their inclusion in the festival is an indication of their success as defined by foundation funders. For the purposes of this report, we analyzed the budgets, distribution outlets, scheduling (when available), and number of funders participating in the festival by year (from 1986 to 2003). Although it is a small data pool with inconsistent reporting, the trend that emerges is clear and corroborates what interviewees told us. The data indicates that there has been a reduction of more than 25% in the number of funders funding social issue documentaries between the first nine years we examined and the last nine years. It also shows there has been an increase in the non-prime-time, national carriage of these films on television. And an increasing number have not received broadcast at all (though more films were screened at festivals and in theatrical runs in the second half of the time period). The data was culled from the festival’s Web site: http://www.fundfilm.org/films/films_list.cfm and from research at individual project sites and in press coverage.
10. “Academy Considers 15 Docs,” by Gregg Kilday and Gregg Goldstein, Hollywood Reporter, November 16, 2005.
11. “Desperate No More? Networks See a Rebound in Viewers,” by Brooks Barnes, The Wall Street Journal, May 25, 2005.
12. See summaries in Appendix A.
13. Middletown Media Studies, 2, September 2005, Ball State University.
14. Gregory Lamb, Christian Science Monitor, September 28, 2005.
15. “Coming Soon to TV Land: The Internet, Actually.” by John Markoff, New York Times, January 7, 2006.
16. Adapted from “Pop Goes the World.” by Don Aucoin, Boston Globe, October 11, 2005.
17. “Channels Bloom, and Viewers Pick.” by Lynn Smith, Los Angeles Times, March 2, 2006.
18. “Our Ratings, Ourselves,” by Jon Gertner, New York Times, April 10, 2005.
19. “Nice shootin', Tex,” by Jackie Chowns, Sydney Morning Herald, July 15, 2005.
20. “Nonfiction Is Flavor of Moment for Films,” by Caryn James, New York Times, May 25, 2005.
21. “Birth of a Salesman,” by Daniel Gross, Fortune, August 8, 2005.
22. “The Reel Deal: It's the Golden Age of the Documentary as Nonfiction Films Finally Go Mainstream,” by Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter, December 11, 2003.
23. According to the Web site http://www.leesmovieinfo.net (which gathers published data from industry sources), “Fahrenheit 9/11” grossed over $240 million, and “Super Size Me” grossed over $35 million.
24. What’s Up Docs,” by Jean Grillo, Variety, June 12, 2005.
25. For a presentation of the scheduling issues surrounding “limited series” documentaries, see “Framework for a Public Television Prime Time Strategy – the 2005 edition” (available from CPB at: http://www.cpb.org/stations/npsresearch/framework_ptv_primetime_strategy.pdf ). CPB also commissioned research on the role of documentaries in the national program schedule, which gave the viewers’ perspective that only dedicated viewers followed strands; most others channel surfed to find documentaries. See “2005 Consumer Insight Research on Primetime Public Television – The Changing Viewing Landscape and the Role of Documentary and Performance Programming in the NPS,” January 2006, Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
26. “The Reel Deal,” by Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter, December 11, 2003.
27. The Center for Social Media has produced a good and more extensive overview of funding and distribution of social documentaries in its 2003 publication, “In the Battle for Reality: Social Documentaries in the U.S.,” http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/battle/index.htm.
28. http://www.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=23.
29. These estimates come from the Web site: www.leesmovieinfo.net.
30. “Two New TV Series Are Liberal and Proud,” by Felicia R. Lee, New York Times, February 18, 2006.
31. The number of students majoring in film or communications has skyrocketed. The publisher of the Columbia Journalism Review told us that many colleges and universities see this as a great boon, a “cash cow.” Others are concerned that there are not enough jobs for their graduates, that the wages for recent graduates are low, and that graduates often must await long unpaid internships.
32. “Join a Revolution. Make Movies. Go Broke…The medium is more accessible than ever. So is bankruptcy,” by Charles Lyons, New York Times, November 20, 2005.
33. “'Bubble' hits theaters, TV, DVD on same day,” by Gary Gentile, Associated Press, January 18, 2006.
34. “Highly political films make Hollywood skittish, so filmmakers with strong messages go straight to DVD, which are sold on the Internet” by Elaine Dutka, Los Angeles Times, December 6, 2005.
35. “For $1 You Too, Can Be an Executive Producer,” Charles Lyons, New York Times, May 22, 2005.
36. “Red-Blue Divide Comes to DVD Clubs,” by Clayton Collins, The Christian Science Monitor, February 24, 2006.
37. “Feature Distribution: Straight-to-video ain’t so bad,” by Kimberly Brown, RealScreen, January 1, 2005.
38. Nielsen Media Research, “Competitive Program Analysis, 12/27/2004 to 12/27/2005.”
39. Press release, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, April 11, 2005.
40. Ibid.
