From Troubleshooter to The Apprentice: the changing face of business on British television

This commentary seeks to open up a discussion around how British factual television has represented the world of business and finance over the last decade or so. It investigates the ways that factual television representations of the financial and business environment have changed and in so doing begins to identify the key drivers of this process. As the traditional boundaries between news and current affairs, drama and documentary have blurred and new formats emerged, this research begins to capture how British television has responded to these shifts through its engagement with the world of work, business and finance. Previous research in this area has tended to focus on the specific realm of television news journalism and the reporting of industrial and economic issues (Gavin, 2000; Jensen, 1987; Philo, 1995; Richardson, 1998), while more recently attention has been centred on the BBC and the issue of journalistic impartiality in its coverage of business (Svennevig, 2007). While such concerns naturally inform this research, attention here is on the ideas and discourses created beyond the television news arena and specifically on the role that factual entertainment television formats play in representing business on television.

Given the centrality of the BBC in this process, it is worth briefly reflecting on recent attempts to change the institutional climate within that organization regarding its coverage of the world of business.