PressEthic

Although I have managed to avoid a large chunk of the reality TV phenomenon, MTV’s ‘True Life’ has long had a strangely addicting effect on me. Perhaps it’s the fact that the series does not require a weekly viewing—each episode presents an entirely new set of characters with entirely new dilemmas—but whether it deals with plastic surgery or Star Wars-obsessed fathers, the documentary-based show is generally impossible for me to turn off. ‘True Life’ has ideally catered to both my primitive voyeurism and my journalistic interest. Yet, I haven’t always admitted my admiration—after all, MTV is often associated with easily digestible pop culture rather than serious reporting (never mind that its news team has indisputably made a noteworthy contribution to educating young people about issues like the Iraq war and Hurricane Katrina).

Edward Wyatt’s article in last Tuesday’s New York Times showed that at least some of the journalistic community shares in my sentiments.

Wyatt Writes:

“For a generation that has witnessed Paris Hilton’s sex video and seen photographs of Kate Moss snorting cocaine in a recording studio, a documentary about an unknown 20-something woman prostituting herself to buy crystal meth might seem a bit ho-hum.

And it probably would be if the producers followed the typical documentary style, with stale video clips, voice-overs and talking heads debating morality and offering character analysis.

But that is not how MTV does documentaries, and it is one reason “True Life,” the documentary series that has been a staple of MTV’s programming for nine years, has fared so well.”

Much of ‘True Life’s appeal is found in its seeming minimalism; rather than providing expert commentaries on issues it covers or finding historical points of comparison, the series simply follows its characters in their daily lives, from their morning commutes to work to arguments with their loved ones. Although viewers see the subjects talking to the camera, they often seem just as unaware of the film crew’s presence and their roles as educational examples. According to Wyatt, this authenticity is present in True Life’s most recent episode: ‘I’m addicted to crystal meth.’

“In a world where “reality shows” are as scripted as serial dramas, it can be hard to find authenticity when following anyone around with a camera. But unlike many of the narcissists who might answer an Internet casting call, the addicts who are the subjects of the “Crystal Meth” documentary are so obviously beholden to the drug that their ability to act seems short-circuited, to the viewer’s benefit.

“We’re capturing the authentic behavior of our audience in the moment that they are going through it,” Dave Sirulnick, an executive vice president who oversees MTV’s news and documentaries division, said recently in his office at MTV in Times Square. Unlike in mainstream documentaries, which often provide a record of things that had already happened at the time the piece was assembled, “the people in our shows are going through things in their lives that they don’t know the outcome of.””

According to Wyatt, the MTV news unit began as merely a source of music news, from artists’ new projects to record label law suits. Since its origin in the 1980’s, the unit expanded into covering more topics and originated the now separate “news and docs” unit. Catered to an obviously young viewership, the network’s long-form journalism has taken a modern approach to documentaries.

“The MTV news and docs unit produces a style of documentary that would not have been possible even several years ago, when producing hours of television-quality video would mean invading the subject’s home or other space with at least a five-person crew, lights, bulky cameras and other behavior-altering paraphernalia.

“We couldn’t do this if we had to rely on the old equipment,” said Marshall Eisen, a vice president for news and documentaries for MTV. “ ‘True Life’ works because we’re fly-on-the-wall observers. Intimacy is so important to these shows.””

Sure, since it is not a news network per say, MTV feels little need to disguise its main incentive: gaining a large viewership.

“Some of the topics considered were evergreens, ideas that had been done before but which can be repeated after several years and aimed at a new audience, like those involving money or credit and debt. By the end of the meeting, 50 to 60 ideas had been whittled to about 10 potential show topics that were then sent to the unit’s research division, which maintains a constant cycle of polls and surveys of the MTV audience, for further study and development.”

Interestingly, MTV’s status as an entertainment channel may have been a driving force in the sparking of my interest. Rarely considered a staple for seriousness, the network is able to conduct journalism without a large weight on its shoulders. With no need to bring in a slew of expert commentators, it is able to focus on the most important aspect of a journalist’s job: telling a compelling story.

Wyatt article