Documentary Film: Towards a Research Agenda on Forms, Functions, and Impacts

An Educational Intervention to Change Planned Behavior Concerning Midwife‐Assisted Out‐of‐Hospital Childbirth

“…15,18,21 Mass media has the ability to educate and even serve as a catalyst for positive change on public health issues, as has been demonstrated with issues such as HIV, condom use, and tobacco use. [1][2][3][4] Further research on the impact of documentary films is needed, 22 but documentaries appear to be particularly effective at informing and engaging viewers and have the potential to shift public opinion on an issue. 23 Although the portrayal of midwifery by the media has generally been controversial at best, 24 a documentary film titled The Business of Being Born offers a positive perspective on midwifery and may have the potential to initiate a cultural shift in the birthing process.…”

Mediating Silence: The Media's Role in Silencing Religious Dialogue Among U.S. Muslims

“…While the majority of documentaries are directed from the perspective of an activist, Nisbet and Aufderheide (2009) note that the goal of documentaries was to achieve mass education. Either of these perspectives should be used to more accurately portray Muslim Americans, as a more moderate representation of the group may lead to greater communication about religion in an interpersonal setting.…”

Documentary Filmmaking and Ethics: Concepts, Responsibilities, and the Need for Empirical Research

“…The question now is, How can we develop a documentary filmmaking ethics that will go beyond such singularities? Joining Nisbet and Aufderheide's (2009) research agenda proposed in Mass Communication and Society, Volume 12, Issue 4, I propose three steps to accomplish this.…”