Week Two Reading – “Live television: Time, space and the Broadcast event”

This week’s reading (week two) is on live television and broadcasting and the difference between live versus pre-recorded broadcasting. Inevitably, there is going to be some shows that a pre-recorded such as sitcoms, drama, and films. Large-scale media events such as sporting events, weddings, breaking news, election nights etc. and the live-liness of the shows are the considerable drawcard for gaining views (specifically involving things like deaths + marriages of high personnel) = people will watch that over pre-recorded shows. These shows generally gain a higher number of views simply because individuals enjoy the ‘action’ of these events and how it unfolds as it happens. If this has been recorded in the past, The presenters avoid past tense actions and words, to allow the realism to shine through as if it was happening live (eg: band recordings and shows like Springwatch). This element of endless time is paralleled to individuals reading a book, that sense of ‘time passing’ and becoming immersed is the same as reading a good book: perhaps due to the fact that there is an element of the unknown and things are progressed and discovered along the way.