1. Jessica
Noske-Turner
TRUTH, INTEGRITY &
ETHICS IN NON-FICTION

2.  ‘Truth’ in non-fiction
 Documentary modes
 Representation
 Owning truth: forms, right to veto, & the industry
 Models of collaborative practice
 Not intending to preach any one ‘right way’
OVERVIEW
Jessica Noske-Turner: PhD Candidate, QUT; Research Assistant, RMIT University

3.  Documentaries seen as truth, opposite of fiction (non-fiction)
 BUT documentaries are constructed
 Documentary as ‘creative treatment of actuality’ (Grierson)
 Documentary as journalism + art (Winston)
 Documentary as crafted story (Aufderheide)
 Collision of journalism + art : This American Life ep 460
TRUTH IN NON-FICTION: DIFFERENT
FORMS, DIFFERENT TRUTHS
Jessica Noske-Turner: PhD Candidate, QUT; Research Assistant, RMIT University

4. 36.26
Mike Daisey
…My mistake, the mistake I truly regret, is that I
had it on your show as journalism. And it's not
journalism. It's theater. It uses the tools of theater
and memoir to achieve its dramatic arc.
And of that arc and that work I'm very proud.
Because I think it made you care, Ira. And I think it
made you want to delve. And my hope is it has made
other people delve.
Ira Glass
So you're saying the story isn't true in the
journalistic sense?
Mike Daisey
I am agreeing it is not up to the standards of
journalism. And that's why it was completely wrong
for me to have it on your show. And that's something
I deeply regret. And I regret that the people who are
listening, the audience of This American Life, who
know that it is a journalistic enterprise -- if they feel
misled or betrayed, I regret to them as well.
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/rad
io-archives/episode/460/retraction
Jessica Noske-Turner: PhD Candidate, QUT; Research Assistant, RMIT University
COLLISION OF JOURNALISM + ART :
THIS AMERICAN LIFE EP 460

5. Mike Daisey
I don't think that label covers the totality of what it
is.
Ira Glass
The label, "fiction?"
Mike Daisey
Yeah. We have dif ferent worldviews on some of
these things. I agree that truth is really important.
Ira Glass
I know. But I feel like I have the normal worldview.
The normal worldview is somebody stands on a
stage and says, "This happened to me," I think it
happened to them, unless it's clearly
labeled, "Here's a work of fiction."
Mike Daisey
I really regret putting the show on This American
Life. And it was wrong for me to misrepresent to
you and to Brian that it could be on the show .
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/rad
io-archives/episode/460/retraction
Jessica Noske-Turner: PhD Candidate, QUT; Research Assistant, RMIT University
COLLISION OF JOURNALISM + ART :
THIS AMERICAN LIFE EP 460

6. Nichols 1991 + revisions
 Expository mode
 Observational mode
 Poetic mode
 Participatory mode
(originally interactive
mode)
 Reflexive mode
 Performative mode
MODES OF DOCUMENTARY
Jessica Noske-Turner: PhD Candidate, QUT; Research Assistant, RMIT University
Image from: Delofski, M. (2009) 'Dreaming a Connection: Reflections on the
Documentary Subject/Filmmaker Relationship'. Scan Journal of Media Arts
Culture 6 (3).

7. Subsequently, I decided it was
important to acknowledge these
dilemmas in my narration to the
film. For example, when Amal is
first seen in a really ill state I
comment that: ‘For the first time I
felt like I was intruding.’
(THOMAS, 2
012)
Jessica Noske-Turner: PhD Candidate, QUT; Research Assistant, RMIT University

8. The effect of using these moments
certainly acknowledges my presence in
the story but it also serves to create a
truthful reflection on the quality of the
relationship that I developed with the
participants and the role of that
relationship in creating the discourse. In
one of these moments, at Tony’s
birthday lunch, he turned to the camera
and directed me to, ‘put down that
camera and come here and have
something to eat with us’.
(DONOVAN
2012)
Jessica Noske-Turner: PhD Candidate, QUT; Research Assistant, RMIT University

9.  Said’s The ‘Other’
 Whiteness studies
 Post-colonial theory
 Power
REPRESENTATION
Jessica Noske-Turner: PhD Candidate, QUT; Research Assistant, RMIT University

10.  Existing laws benefit filmmakers
 Indigenous Cultural & Intellectual Property?
 http://frankellawyers.com.au/media/report/culture.pdf
 Release forms
 Right to veto
 Interactions at the business end of town
WHO OWNS ‘THE TRUTH’
Jessica Noske-Turner: PhD Candidate, QUT; Research Assistant, RMIT University

11. Interviewer: Tell me about the whole
negotiation around your participation
generally. When did he ask you?
Rule: I can’t remember. I can just remember
his car being out the front of my place and
he dragged out a form and said ‘you’ll have
to sign this form’ [...] I was a bit aware of
the contract and what it entitled him to and
what it didn’t entitle me to and it is, it
doesn’t make you feel good because you’re
giving away all your rights really, you don’t
have any rights. All of that is then his, oh
well it was really SBS’s [the broadcaster].
Quoting Lyn
Rule, participa
nt in Molly and
Mobarak
NASH 2012
Jessica Noske-Turner: PhD Candidate, QUT; Research Assistant, RMIT University

12.  Existing laws benefit filmmakers
 Indigenous Cultural & Intellectual Property?
 http://frankellawyers.com.au/media/report/culture.pdf
 Release forms
 Right to veto
 Interactions at the business end of town
WHO OWNS ‘THE TRUTH’
Jessica Noske-Turner: PhD Candidate, QUT; Research Assistant, RMIT University

13. We say to our subjects, ‘We are not
journalists; we are going to spend years
with you. Our code of ethics is very
different. A journalist wouldn’t show you
the footage. We will show the film before
it is finished. I want you to sign the
release, but we will really listen to you.
But ultimately it has to be our decision.’
In some cases I will say, ‘If there is
something that you can’t live with then
we’ll discuss it, we will have the
argument and real dialogue. In the end, if
I can’t convince you then we’ll take it
out.’
Quoting Gordon
Quinn
AUFDERHEIDE
2012
Jessica Noske-Turner: PhD Candidate, QUT; Research Assistant, RMIT University

14.  Existing laws benefit filmmakers
 Indigenous Cultural & Intellectual Property?
 http://frankellawyers.com.au/media/report/culture.pdf
 Release forms
 Right to veto
 Interactions at the business end of town
WHO OWNS ‘THE TRUTH’
Jessica Noske-Turner: PhD Candidate, QUT; Research Assistant, RMIT University

15. One Blood: the
Story of
William Cooper
NEGOTIATIONS
Jessica Noske-Turner: PhD Candidate, QUT; Research Assistant, RMIT University

16. As a practising, independent documentary
filmmaker, I have found over the last few
years that the increasingly controlling
interference of television commissioning
editors and executive producers has not only
undermined my artistic integrity but also
prevented me from behaving in what I
consider to be an ethical manner towards the
participants in my films. To quote one small
but significant example, pressures of time and
money were used as justification by the
commissioners of a television documentary I
made to prevent me from showing the film to
its participants for comment until after it was
completed. Officially, of course, this was
defendable because the participants had no
legal say in the final cut, but in terms of
behaving decently in return for their
participation I felt it was wrong.
THOMAS
2012
Jessica Noske-Turner: PhD Candidate, QUT; Research Assistant, RMIT University

17.  Narrative Therapy (Thomas 2012)
 Participatory Development (Noske-Turner 2012)
 Participant as collaborator, expert, agent, owner
 Dialogue, consultation
 (See also Donovan 2012)
MODELS OF COLLABORATIVE PRACTICE
Jessica Noske-Turner: PhD Candidate, QUT; Research Assistant, RMIT University

18. AGENCY IN
INTERVIEWS
Jessica Noske-Turner: PhD Candidate, QUT; Research Assistant, RMIT University

19.  Narrative Therapy (Thomas 2012)
 Participatory Development (Noske-Turner 2012)
 Participant as collaborator, expert, agent, owner
 Dialogue, consultation
 Challenges/ limitations
 Interest in participating
 Not for stories with high levels of conflict
 Truth?
MODELS OF COLLABORATIVE PRACTICE
Jessica Noske-Turner: PhD Candidate, QUT; Research Assistant, RMIT University

20.  Special Issues of: New Review of Film and Television Studies, 2012 Vol 10 Iss 3
Especially worthwhile are:
 Aufderheide, P. (2012) 'Perceived ethical conflicts in US documentary filmmaking: a field report'. New
Review of Film and Television Studies 10 (3):362-386
 (See also) http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/making-your-media-matter/documents/best-practices/honest-truths-documentary-filmmakers-ethical-chall
 Nash, K. (2012) 'Telling stories: the narrative study of documentary ethics'. New Review of Film and
Television Studies 10 (3):318-331. (accessed 2013/10/02). 10.1080/17400309.2012.693765.
 Nash, K. (2011) 'Documentary -for-the-Other: Relationships, Ethics and (Observational) Documentary'.
Journal of Mass Media Ethics 26 (3):224 -239.
 Winston, Brian (2000) Lies Damn Lies and Documentaries. British Film Institute, London
 Nichols, Bill (1991) Representing Reality: issues and Concepts in Documentary. Indiana University
Press
Collaborative practice Case -Studies:
 Thomas, S. (2012) 'Collaboration and ethics in documentary filmmaking – a case study'. New Review
of Film and Television Studies 10 (3):332 -343
 Noske-Turner, J. (2012) 'Making One Blood: A journey through participatory radio documentary
production'. Journal of Media Practice 13 (2):177 -187.
 Donovan, K. (2012) 'The ethical stance and its representation in the expressive techniques of
documentary filming: a case study of Tagged'. New Review of Film and Television Studies 10 (3):344 -
361.
 Radio documentary: Retracing the Tragedy Track by Susan Angel
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational /programs/hindsight/re-tracing -the-tragedy-track/3673122
Link to the full This American Life: Retraction : http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio -
archives/episode/460/retraction
RECOMMENDED TEXTS
Jessica Noske-Turner: PhD Candidate, QUT; Research Assistant, RMIT University

21. J.NOSKETURNER
@GMAIL.COM
Jessica Noske-Turner: PhD Candidate, QUT; Research Assistant, RMIT University