The representation of travellers in television documentaries: dispelling stigma while dealing with infotainment demands

This study of television documentaries shows how such programmes are not at all neutral but instead can encourage a particular view of the issue in hand among viewers. The topic treated in the four films analysed is the community of Irish and Scottish travellers as people who are generally disenfranchised and have lower status in society. The documentary makers set the tone and format of the films as examples of ethnographic documentation and use different techniques for narrating the events the viewers witness. The study shows how such techniques together with the choice of images contribute to a representation of the travellers that is more or less ideologised but certainly far from being neutral.