Is Media Work Good Work? A Case Study of Television Documentary

This chapter examines a politics of creative media work in order to make claims for what is good work. These claims follow a number of recent critiques of work emerging from media production studies. Drawing on sociology, philosophy, and social theory, the chapter develops a model for the analysis of good and bad work in general. A case study of the independent television sector in the UK and Germany then applies this model to illustrate the coexistence of positive and negative features in media work. This intervention aims to promote the kind of emancipatory social action necessary to make access to good work, including good creative work, more equal and just.