ABSTRACT
Traditional notions of public knowledge are being transformed alongside more personal notions of learning. Knowledge as facts and information about
the world is most commonly associated by audiences with news and current affairs, and some types of documentary. Viewers describe themselves riding a wave of information when watching news. This is an information-rich environment but one that is hard to connect with unless there is some personal investment in a news item. Learning as getting something from a programme, something for yourself, is most commonly associated by audiences with some types of documentary and popular factual. When watching such genres viewers can sometimes take out information that is personally relevant to them. Information can go into a learning reserve and can be drawn on when needed. Another type of learning is related to the media itself, with the majority of viewers displaying high levels of media literacy, and critical engagement with the presentation of knowledge or information, especially in more popular factual genres. This critical literacy shows just how resourceful the viewer is in learning about the media from the media (Buckingham 2003; Livingstone 2001).
