Whatever Happened to the Social Documentary?

'With the Australian independent one-hour social documentary relegated to late night viewing on ABC TV and replaced in prime time by 'factual entertainment' series and docusoaps, we are starting to see the results of the growing primacy in factual TV around the world of the imperative to entertain. In light of this trend, one might ask what kind of future there is at our major public broadcaster for locally produced documentaries which explore serious subjects in depth and concern themselves with critical reflection and social change.' This article looks at: the challenge to documentary, the appeal of narrative, the advent of first person confession, the docusoap, reality TV, the new entertainment imperative, documentary as argument, the latest genre of 'what if . . . ', magic realism in the bush, the documentary pact, and revitalising the documentary project.