Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: cohousing and the press

[Andrew Watkins (aw_ch]

> I don't have an answer but would like to add to the question.  Whole
> Village has been approached by a producer to be the subject of a
> documentary. The film would appear on national television.  We are
> currently debating what to do about this.
> 

I don't know what the media are like in the States but here in the UK we 
have had several years now of 'fly on the wall' type documentaries. 
Although none specifically about cohousing I think the following points 
are pertinant. One of the clearest things to come out of this is that 
no-one makes a tv program without thinking about entertaining the audience 
- even the most respected of producers. To do this they are always looking 
for a story, characters and human interest.  This means that stuff that 
you might think is of little significance in your community may get undue 
amounts of focus. 

some examples
Big arguments make good tv and a minor disagreement in a meeting might be 
followed up with private interviews with both sides - so they can reveal 
'how you really felt' and stoke up the conflict.

people with distinctive character traits e.g. particularly talkative, 
bearded, voluptuous etc. whatever may get disproportionate attention.

the multifaceted and complex life of a community is too hard to get across 
on tv so they might pick just one feature - e.g. ecology, architecture, 
consensus processes and focus on that giving the impression that your 
group only cares about this issue. 

None of this means that you shouldn't let the tv people in - after all 
without such documentaries I would have never heard the term cohousing. 
but you do need to get the producer/director in to stay with you, and talk 
to you, and explain what they think the 'story' is going to be before the 
cameras arrive. You want the producer to share your point of view rather 
than be an outsider looking in. 

Regards Andrew
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