The Blood of Others: Television Documentary Journalism as Literary Engagement

Abstract

The provocations that spurred literary engagement (littérature engagée) also motivated documentary journalists, yet their work is defined narrowly as journalism history, instead of engaged literature. Like their literary counterparts, documentarians immersed themselves in research and location, reported comprehensively, and posed existential questions that animated civic action. Long-form documentary journalism is thus analyzed in concert with engagement—meaning political involvement by intellectuals denoting commitment and obligation. Engagement arose after World War I, transformed during the Spanish Civil War, and emerged as a dividend that permeated network documentary journalism after World War II. Historical-critical method establishes foundations and criteria, combs existing scholarship for markers of engaged documentary journalism, and moves exemplars from the corners of journalism history into the spotlight of engagement.