9/11: A Documentary by James Hanlon and Ron Klug

9/11
Was it objective?
How do you define a documentary?
MASC 1100: Fall 2006 Responses
Was it objective?
Yes or mostly so: 29 No or mostly not: 25
Objective: Having actual existence or reality
Uninfluenced by emotion, surmise or personal prejudice, presented factually
Based on observable phenomena
Bias: An uninformed or unintentional preference or inclination, especially one that inhibits impartial judgment; prejudice
Source: American Heritage Dictionary, 2d Ed.
How is a documentary different from news?
More personal and emotional
More detailed, more thorough
More in-depth, more opinions shown
Truthful, biased, artful, has a point of view, has characters, edited
Tells a story, gets you involved, told from within, shows instead of tells
Narrator, not an anchor
Excellent insight #1
“News is designed to update, to give us a look at the world. A documentary is designed to preserve something -- facts, events, emotions. I would say news exists in a state of flux and documentaries are stabilized, congealed news.”
Excellent insight #2
“Straight news is fact. A documentary is not as objective as straight news. An individual’s feelings may not be the actual truth of the matter, but how they feel at a given moment. Straight news are facts that happen in our world, not people’s feelings.”
Excellent insight #3
“It was different from straight news because it wasn’t about facts and numbers; it was about people and situations.”