There are many different ways to document development projects going on around the world. By using film, the Internet and print media sources an organization can promote what they do, shed light on the issues they aim to confront and can make creative uses of those mediums to further their agendas. Mixing those genres can prove to be even more effective. Reality television, webisodes and interactive media are starting to replace the more traditional documentary as a way to display “reality” to an average television viewer.

Reality television gives you an intimate window into the lives of the subjects that you wouldn’t normally have access to as an outsider. You can follow life of a Celebutant as she searches for a new best friend, watch a celebrity as they embark on a life changing journey, or you can see what living in a household of 18+ people is like. I was watching the reality show “18 Kids and Counting” on TLC the other day. I don’t really follow it, but the basic premise of the show is following the Dugger family with (now) 18 kids in their daily routine. The episode I caught had some members of the family going on a trip to El Salvador, in which they visited orphanages, schools and other projects being run by a missionary organization. What struck me was that the Dugger kids made comments about the plight of the poverty stricken children they met. One of the girls said “People in America must not know what is going on down here, otherwise they would be doing something about it” (Not an exact quote). While we aren’t all exposed to development issues at the same degree, it would be hard to find a person in the Western world who has no idea about Third World Poverty. I do agree that the issues that confront people daily in developing countries are not publicized nearly enough on the world scale. Sometimes it is frustrating that an issue has to be come tragic before the media takes note.

There are some great examples out there of reality television that is being used to explore development issues in a different light then news outlets. 4REAL, which airs in Canada on MTV both on television and episodes online. The show is broadcast internationally on the National Geographic Channel. The show takes a celebrity guest to a different location each episode to “connect with young leaders who, under extreme circumstances, are effecting real change on some of the most pressing issues of our time”. The host Sol Guy takes these celebrity guests to remote parts of the world, and they are challenged to take a real world look at how change is made by people from within. I was first introduced to the show when I attended a youth conference a few years ago in Vancouver where the pilot was shown. 4REAL has come a long way since then and now has become an online global community.

In the sixth and seventh seasons of the popular reality show American Idol the show dedicated two episodes to Idol Gives Back, in which special guests come on the show for a special concert and to raise funds for charities supporting underprivileged children around the world.

It is apparent, not only as a student of development, but as someone who has worked in fundraising for non-profits that traditional forms of promotions and campaigning are being mixed with social networking sites, text-message campaigns and a plethora of other innovative uses of the Internet and technology. Organizations that will succeed in a recessed market are those that can use innovation to their advantage and reality television (while controversial in terms of privacy laws) might just be one of those ways to get the message across.