The worldwide success of reality television has received plenty of academic and public attention. All the debates seem both implicitly and explicitly to address reality TV as a global phenomenon, but little attention has been given to any national characteristics that may emerge in its localized variations. In this article, using a Finnish adventure show Extreme Escapades as a case, we argue that national television still plays an important role in constructing national identities; that reality television as a popular cultural product should be viewed in the context of "banal nationalism"; and that the genre may indeed redefine the meaning of national television in the globalized media sphere.
This article examines reality TV as an illustration of contemporary confessional culture in which the key attraction is the disclosure of true emotions. This article hopes to contribute to the understanding of the production of self-disclosure through a formal analysis of international and domestic dating, adventure and lifestyle-oriented reality shows broadcast on Finnish television between 2002 and 2004. The diverse programmes verify that reality TV shows capitalize on a variety of talk situations within one programme, but it is the monologue that is used as a truth-sign of direct access to the authentic. We also suggest that the power of monologue in the reality genre promotes the transformation of television from a mass medium to first-person medium addressing masses of individuals.
This article examines the impact of changes in market structures and accompanying policies in the diversity of Finnish television’s programme content between 1993 and 2002. The analysis of the media policy and measurement of television supply indicate that, in Finland, the shift from a public service led situation to that of a mixed system with two public service and two commercial nationwide channels has not resulted in drastic changes in the diversity of television programming. Strict, but pragmatic, market-entry regulation has resulted in moderate competition, which appears to have favoured a substantial programme-type diversity and differentiation between the channels.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.