Political Studies Association (UK) to Bring Broadcasters Together with Academics to Create TV and Radio Programs

(Official Statement from the PSA UK)

‘Total Exposure’, a new networking and skills-building initiative was launched at the PSA’s Annual Conference

The Political Studies Association, the UK’s leading academic learned society for politics and political studies, has launched a new initiative designed to bring international broadcasters and the very best political scientists together in order to create TV and radio programmes that showcase the discipline. The project, ‘Total Exposure’, was launched officially on the 1st of April 2015 but will run right up until a final event at the end of January 2016.

From the 1st of April 2015, members of the PSA have been invited to submit ideas for TV and radio programmes based around research within their discipline. Members may submit pitches as individuals or as groups of up to four people. The deadline for pitches is the 31st of October 2015.

After the deadline has passed, 10 of the best pitches will be shortlisted and the academics behind those pitches will be invited to a Central London venue in January 2016 where they will get the chance to sell their pitch to a panel of expert television and radio programme commissioners. The panel of experts assembled by the PSA includes Jonathan Brunert (Producer, BBC), Tom Garton (Assistant Producer, BBC, ITV, Shiver), Siobhan Mulholland (Senior Commissioning Editor, Factual, Sky), Siobhan Sinnerton (Senior Commissioning Editor, News and Current Affairs, Channel 4), and Steve Titherington (Commissioning Editor, BBC World Service).

The Political Studies Association sees the initiative as a skills-building and networking exercise rather than a competition and there is no prize or an outright winner.

Chair of the Political Studies Association, Professor Matthew Flinders explained:

“Total Exposure offers an opportunity to learn about interacting with the media and to learn new skills. Some short-listed applicants will get the chance to discuss their ideas and proposals with a panel of commissioning editors and producers and this may lead to one or two ideas being taken forward into a formal commissioning round.

This project is therefore about learning and linkage: learning in the sense of the art of translation and taking academic knowledge into the public sphere; linkage in the sense of creating an annual and prestigious competition through which cutting-edge social science can be offered as the basis for cutting-edge broadcasting.”

Professor Matthew Flinders added:

“The aim of Total Exposure is to create a fun and friendly environment in which academics at any stage in their career, from any institution and from any sub-field of the discipline can learn about the media commissioning process, develop the skills to add new dimensions to their career and – through this – promote the discipline for the benefit of all its members”

The  ‘Guide to Total Exposure’ document, including an FAQs and tips on how to write a pitch, can be downloaded from the PSA’s website at www.psa.ac.uk/totalexposure.

For more information, contact totalexposure@psa.ac.uk