ABSTRACT
Historically, media critics and responsible broadcasters tried to make and communicate clear and careful distinctions between entertainment and information programming. But in recent decades, these distinctions have become blurred, particularly in the hybrid and highly diverse category known as reality programming. Such content is so widely popular that the College Board recently asked students in the essay portion of the SAT to address the question: “Do people benefit from forms of entertainment that show so-called reality, or are such forms of entertainment harmful?” 1 Consequently, because this controversial category has become the focus of such widespread critical debate, and borrows from and touches on many other program genres, we devote one of our two culminating chapters to its definition and analysis.
