ABSTRACT
How an individual learns about death and comes to terms with its reality is diverse and sometimes indeterminable. This chapter explores how popular media may play a role in the ways viewers of paranormal reality television (PRTV) programmes interpret death and the afterlife, and use online forums related to these programmes to confer with others on these topics. The larger study consisted of a qualitative content analysis conducted on three popular USA PRTV programmes, which assessed the presence of death-related themes, and through non-participant observation it explored interactions among contributors to related online forums that centred on death and the afterlife (Dobry 2011). Since all programmes in the study were designated as ‘reality’ programming, I investigated questions of how viewers established what constituted a basis for ‘reality’, and hence, which aspects of the programmes they considered to be believable and authentic and why.
