Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded. The genre, which has existed in some form or another since the early years of television programming, exploded as a phenomenon around 1999–2000 with the success of such television series such as ''Big Brother'' and ''Survivor''. Programs in the reality television genre are commonly called reality shows and often are produced in a television series. Documentaries and nonfictional programming such as television news and sports television shows are usually not classified as reality shows.

The genre covers a wide range of television programming formats, from game show or quiz shows which resemble the frantic, often demeaning Japanese variety show shows produced in Japan in the 1980s and 1990s (such as ''Gaki no tsukai''), to surveillance- or voyeurism-focused productions such as ''Big Brother.''

Reality television frequently portrays a modified and highly influenced form of reality, at times utilizing sensationalism to attract audience viewers and increase advertising revenue profits. Participants are often placed in exotic locations or abnormal situations, and are often persuaded to act in specific scripted ways by off-screen "story editors" or "segment television producers", with the portrayal of events and speech manipulated and contrived to create an illusion of reality through direction and post-production editing techniques.

History

1940s–1950s

Precedents for television that portrayed people in unscripted situations began in the 1940s. Debuting in 1948, Allen Funt's hidden camera ''Candid Camera'' show, (based on his previous 1947 radio show, ''Candid Microphone''), broadcast unsuspecting ordinary people reacting to pranks. It has been called the "granddaddy of the reality TV genre". In 1948, talent search shows ''Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour'' and ''Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts'' featured amateur competitors and audience voting. The ''Miss America'' Pageant, first broadcast in 1954, was a competition where the winner achieved status as a national celebrity.

In the 1950s, game shows ''Beat the Clock'' and ''Truth or Consequences'' involved contestants in wacky competitions, stunts, and practical jokes. The Groucho Marx-hosted game show, You Bet Your Life, was primarily composed of Marx' prescripted comebacks to what was most often candid interviews of the contestants, although some 'contestants' were actors.

The radio series ''Nightwatch'' (1951–1955), which tape-recorded the daily activities of Culver City, California police officers, also helped pave the way for reality television. The series ''You Asked For It'' (1950–1959), in which viewer requests dictated content, was an antecedent of today's audience-participation reality TV elements, in which viewers cast votes to help determine the course of events.

1960s–1970s

First broadcast in the United Kingdom in 1964, the Granada Television series ''Seven Up!'', broadcast interviews with a dozen ordinary seven-year-olds from a broad cross section of society and inquired about their reactions to everyday life. Every seven years, a film documented the life of the same individuals during the intervening period, titled ''7 Plus Seven'', ''21 Up'', etc. The series was structured as a series of interviews with no element of plot. However, it did have the then-new effect of turning ordinary people into celebrities.

In the 1966 Direct Cinema film ''Chelsea Girls'', Andy Warhol filmed various acquaintances with no direction given; the ''Radio Times Guide to Film 2007'' stated that the film was "to blame for reality television."

The first reality show in the modern sense may have been the 12-part 1973 PBS series ''An American Family'', which showed a nuclear family going through a divorce; unlike many later reality shows, it was more or less documentary in purpose and style. In 1974 a counterpart program, ''The Family'', was made in the UK, following the working class Wilkins family of Reading. Other forerunners of modern reality television were the 1970s productions of Chuck Barris: ''The Dating Game'', ''The Newlywed Game'', and ''The Gong Show'', all of which featured participants who were eager to sacrifice some of their privacy and dignity in a televised competition. ''One Man and His Dog'' was a British Television series which began in 1976 featuring the participants of sheepdog trials. In 1978, ''Living in the Past'' recreated life in an Iron Age English village.

1980s–1990s

Reality television as it is currently understood can be directly linked to several television shows that began in the late 1980s and early 1990s. ''COPS'', which first aired in the spring of 1989 and came about partly due to the need for new programming during the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike, showed police officers on duty apprehending criminals; it introduced the camcorder look and cinéma vérité feel of much of later reality television. Canadian TV ran ''Thrill of a Lifetime'' a fantasies fulfilled reality show from 1982-88 which was revived in 2001-03.

The series ''Nummer 28'', which aired on Dutch television in 1991, originated the concept of putting strangers together in the same environment for an extended period of time and recording the drama that ensued. ''Nummer 28'' also pioneered many of the stylistic conventions that have since become standard in reality television shows, including a heavy use of soundtrack music and the interspersing of events on screen with after-the-fact "confessionals" recorded by cast members, that serve as narration. One year later, the same concept was used by MTV in their new series ''The Real World'' and ''Nummer 28'' creator Erik Latour has long claimed that ''The Real World'' was directly inspired by his show. However, the producers of ''The Real World'' have stated that their direct inspiration was ''An American Family''.

According to television commentator Charlie Brooker, this type of reality television was enabled by the advent of computer-based non-linear editing systems for video (such as those produced by Avid Technology) in 1989. These systems made it easy to quickly edit hours of video footage into a usable form, something that had been very difficult to do before. (Film, which was easy to edit, was too expensive to shoot enough hours of footage with on a regular basis).

The TV show ''Expedition Robinson'', created by TV producer Charlie Parsons, which first aired in 1997 in Sweden (and was later produced in a large number of other countries as ''Survivor''), added to the ''Nummer 28''/''Real World'' template the idea of competition and elimination, in which cast members/contestants battled against each other and were removed from the show until only one winner remained. (These shows are now sometimes called elimination shows).

''Changing Rooms'', a TV show that began in 1996, showed couples redecorating each others' houses, and was the first reality show with a self-improvement or makeover theme.

2000s

Reality television saw an explosion of global popularity starting in the summer of 2000, with the successes of ''Big Brother'' and ''Survivor'' (in the US).

In particular, ''Survivor'' and ''American Idol'' have topped the US season-average television ratings on several occasions. ''Survivor'' led the ratings in 2001–02, and ''Idol'' has topped the ratings six consecutive years (2004–05 through to 2009–10). The shows ''Survivor'', the ''Idol'' series, ''The Amazing Race'', the ''America's Next Top Model'' series, the ''Dancing With The Stars'' series, ''The Apprentice,'' ''Fear Factor'' and ''Big Brother'' have all had a global effect, having each been successfully syndicated in dozens of countries.

Reality television lost its viewers' appeal after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Low ratings weighed heavily on reality shows such as ''The Amazing Race'', ''Lost'' (unrelated to the better-known serial drama of the same name) and ''The Mole''. B. J. Sigesmund of Newsweek provides three reasons for the low ratings. The first reason was selecting the right time slot for the shows. He said that “Lost” and “The Amazing Race” debuted September 5, 2001 but they went off the air for three weeks in the events of the terrorist attacks. The second reason was that there was an oversaturation of reality shows coming out in one season. September 5 saw the debut of shows like ''Big Brother'', ''Pop Stars'', ''Temptation Island'', ''Boot Camp'', ''Survivor'' and ''The Mole'' in the same night on different networks. The third reason was the issue of quality. He said that, “A great show like ''Survivor'' will always do great numbers. The good shows only do good numbers. And the bad ones fall by the wayside.”

Less than 12 new reality television shows debuted during the 2002 summer season. One of them was ''Houston Medical'', a reality shows that goes behind the scenes with four doctors. The difference between reality television and other genres is that there are no writers, no scripts or actors involved. Reality television involves unknown stars in front of the camera. One reality show that debuted during the 2002 summer television was NBC’s ''Dog Eat Dog'', a game show that combined the elements of ''Fear Factor'' and ''Weakest Link''. Reality television has given the networks the ability to find creative and diverse shows that have led them to serious dramas and continue into the next season. Peyser concluded that television will continue to try reality programs, no matter what the season.

There have been at least three television channels devoted exclusively to reality television: Fox Reality in the United States, launched in 2005, Global Reality Channel in Canada in 2010, and Zone Reality in the United Kingdom, launched in 2002. (The Canadian and British channels still exist; Fox Reality ended in mid-2010). In addition, several other cable channels, such as MTV and Bravo, feature original reality programming as a mainstay. Mike Darnell, head of reality TV for the US Fox network, was quoted as saying that the broadcast networks (NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox) "might as well plan three or four [reality shows] each season because we're going to have them, anyway."

During the early part of the 2000s, network executives expressed concern that reality-television programming was limited in its appeal for DVD reissue and syndication. Despite these concerns, DVDs for reality shows have sold briskly; ''Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County'', ''The Amazing Race'', ''Project Runway'', and ''America's Next Top Model'' have all ranked in the top DVDs sold on Amazon.com, and DVDs of ''The Simple Life'' have outranked scripted shows like ''The O.C.'' and ''Desperate Housewives''. Syndication, however, has indeed proven problematic; shows such as ''Fear Factor'', ''COPS'' and ''Wife Swap'' in which each episode is self-contained can indeed be rerun fairly easily, but usually only on cable television and/or during the daytime (''COPS'' and ''America's Funniest Home Videos'' being exceptions). Season-long competitions such as ''The Amazing Race'', ''Survivor'', and ''America's Next Top Model'' generally perform more poorly and usually must be rerun in marathons to draw the necessary viewers to make it worthwhile. Another option is to create documentaries around series including extended interviews with the participants and outtakes not seen in the original airings; the syndicated series ''American Idol Rewind'' and the pay-per-view ''Jerry Springer Too Hot for TV'' series are examples of using this strategy.

''COPS'' has had huge success in syndication, direct response sales and DVD. A FOX staple since 1989, ''COPS'' is, as of 2010, in its 23rd season, having outlasted all competing scripted police shows. Another series that has seen wide success is "Cheaters", which has been running for 10 seasons in the US and is syndicated in over 100 countries worldwide. In 2007, according to the Learning and Skills Council, one in seven UK teenagers hopes to gain fame by appearing on reality television.

In 2001, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences added the reality genre to the Emmy Awards with the category of Outstanding Reality Program. In 2003, to better differentiate between competition and informational reality programs, a second category Outstanding Reality-Competition Program was added. In 2008, a third category, Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program was added.

In 2010, the Tester became the first reality television show ever aired over a videogame console. The show entered its second season in the same year.

Subgenres

The genre of reality television consists of various subgenres.

Documentary-style

In many reality TV programs, camera shooting and footage editing give the viewer the impression that they are passive observers following people going about their daily personal and professional activities; this style of filming is often referred to as fly on the wall or factual television. Story "plots" are often constructed via editing or planned situations, with the results resembling soap operas—hence the terms ''docusoap'' and ''docudrama''. In other shows, a cinéma vérité style is adopted, where the filmmaker is more than a passive observer—their presence and influence is greatly manifest.

Within documentary-style reality television are several subcategories or variants:

;Special living environment: Some documentary-style programs place cast members, who in most cases previously did not know each other, in artificial living environments; ''The Real World'' is the originator of this style. In almost every other such show, cast members are given a specific challenge or obstacle to overcome. ''Road Rules'', which started in 1995 as a spin-off of ''The Real World'', started this pattern: the cast traveled across the country guided by clues and performing tasks.

:''Big Brother'' is probably the best known program of this type in the world with different versions produced in many countries around the globe. Another example of a show in this category ''The 1900 House'', involves historical re-enactment with cast members hired to live and work as people of a specific time and place. 2001's ''Temptation Island'' achieved some notoriety by placing several couples on an island surrounded by single people in order to test the couples' commitment to each other. ''U8TV: The Lofters'' combined the "special living environment" format with the "professional activity" format noted below; in addition to living together in a loft, each member of the show's cast was hired to host a television program for a Canadian cable channel.

;Celebrities: Another subset of fly-on-the-wall-style shows involves celebrities. Often these show a celebrity going about their everyday life: notable examples include ''The Anna Nicole Show'', ''The Osbournes'', ''Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica'' and ''Hogan Knows Best''. In other shows, celebrities are put on location and given a specific task or tasks; these include ''Celebrity Big Brother'', ''The Simple Life'', ''Tommy Lee Goes to College'', ''The Surreal Life'', and ''I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here!''. VH1 has created an entire block of shows dedicated to celebrity reality, known as "Celebreality".

;Professional activities: Some documentary-style shows portray professionals either going about day-to-day business or performing an entire project over the course of a series. No outside experts are brought in (at least, none appear on screen) to either provide help or to judge results. The earliest example (and the longest running reality show of any genre) is ''COPS'' which has been airing since 1989, preceding by many years the current reality show phenomenon.

:Other examples of this type of reality show include the American shows ''Miami Ink'', ''The First 48'', ''Dog the Bounty Hunter'', ''American Chopper'' and '' Deadliest Catch''; the British shows ''Airport'', ''Police Stop!'' and ''Traffic Cops''; the Australian shows ''Border Security'' and ''Bondi Rescue'', and the New Zealand show ''Motorway Patrol''. The US cable networks TLC and A&E in particular show a number of this type of reality show.

:VH1's 2001 show ''Bands on the Run'' was a notable early hybrid, in that the show featured four unsigned bands touring and making music as a professional activity, but also pitted the bands against one another in game show fashion to see which band could make the most money.

Competition/game shows

Another sub-genre of reality TV is "reality competition" or so-called "reality game shows," which follow the format of non-tournament elimination contests. Typically, participants are filmed competing to win a prize, often while living together in a confined environment. In many cases, participants are removed until only one person or team remains, who/which is then declared the winner. Usually this is done by eliminating participants one at a time, in balloon debate style, through either disapproval voting or by voting for the most popular choice to win. Voting is done by the viewing audience, the show's own participants, a panel of judges, or some combination of the three.

A well-known example of a reality-competition show is the globally syndicated ''Big Brother'', in which cast members live together in the same house, with participants removed at regular intervals by either the viewing audience or, in the case of the American version, by the participants themselves.

There remains some disagreement over whether talent-search shows such as the ''Idol'' series, ''America's Got Talent'', ''Dancing with the Stars'', and ''Celebrity Duets'' are truly reality television, or just newer incarnations of shows such as ''Star Search''. Although the shows involve a traditional talent search, the shows follow the reality-competition conventions of removing one or more contestants per episode and allowing the public to vote on who is removed; the ''Idol'' series also require the contestants to live together during the run of the show (though their daily life is never shown onscreen). Additionally, there is a good deal of interaction shown between contestants and judges. As a result, such shows are often considered reality television, and the American Primetime Emmy Awards have nominated both ''American Idol'' and ''Dancing with the Stars'' for the Outstanding Reality-Competition Program Emmy.

Modern game shows like ''Weakest Link'', ''Greed'', ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'', ''American Gladiators'', ''Dog Eat Dog'' and ''Deal or No Deal'' also lie in a gray area: like traditional game shows (e.g., ''The Price Is Right'', ''Jeopardy!''), the action takes place in an enclosed TV studio over a short period of time; however, they have higher production values, more dramatic background music, and higher stakes than traditional shows (done either through putting contestants into physical danger or offering large cash prizes). In addition, there is more interaction between contestants and hosts, and in some cases they feature reality-style contestant competition and/or elimination as well. These factors, as well as these shows' rise in global popularity at the same time as the arrival of the reality craze, lead many people to group them under the reality TV umbrella as well as the traditional game show one.

There are various hybrid reality-competition shows, like the worldwide-syndicated ''Star Academy'', which combines the ''Big Brother'' and ''Idol'' formats, ''The Biggest Loser'' and ''The Pick-up Artist'' which combine competition with the self-improvement format, and ''American Inventor'', which uses the ''Idol'' format for products instead of people. Some shows, such as ''Making the Band'' and ''Project Greenlight'', devote the first part of the season to selecting a winner, and the second part to showing that person or group of people working on a project.

Popular variants of the competition-based format include the following:

;Dating-based competition:Dating-based competition shows follow a contestant choosing one out of a group of suitors. Over the course of either a single episode or an entire season, suitors are eliminated until only the contestant and the final suitor remains. For a time, in 2001–2003, this type of reality show dominated the other genres on the major US networks. Shows that aired included ''The Bachelor'', its spin-off ''The Bachelorette'', as well as ''For Love or Money'', ''Paradise Hotel'', ''Temptation Island'', ''Average Joe'' and ''Farmer Wants a Wife'', among others. More recent such shows include ''Flavor of Love'' and its spin-offs ''I Love New York'', ''Rock of Love'', and ''The Cougar''. This is one of the older variants of the format; shows such as ''The Dating Game'' that date to the 1960s had similar premises (though each episode was self-contained, and not the serial format of more modern shows).

;Job search:In this category, the competition revolves around a skill that contestants were pre-screened for. Competitors perform a variety of tasks based on that skill, are judged, and are then kept or removed by a single expert or a panel of experts. The show is usually presented as a job search of some kind, in which the prize for the winner includes a contract to perform that kind of work. ''Popstars'', which debuted in 1999, may have been the first such show. The first job-search show which showed dramatic, unscripted situations may have been ''America's Next Top Model'', which premiered in May 2003. Other examples include ''The Apprentice'' (which judges business skills), ''Hell's Kitchen'' and ''Top Chef'' (for chefs), ''Shear Genius'' (for hair styling), ''Project Runway'' (for clothing design), ''Top Design'' (for interior design), ''Stylista'' (for fashion editors), ''Last Comic Standing'' (for comedians), ''The Starlet'' and ''Scream Queens'' (for actresses), ''I Know My Kid's a Star'' (for child performers), ''On the Lot'' (for filmmakers), ''The Shot'' (for photographers), ''So You Think You Can Dance'' (for dancers), ''MuchMusic VJ Search'' (for television hosts), ''Dream Job'' (for sportscasters), ''Face Off'' (for make-up artists), and ''The Tester'' (for game testers). Some shows use the same format with celebrities: in this case, there is no expectation that the winner will continue this line of work, and prize winnings often go to charity. Examples of celebrity competition programs include ''Deadline'', ''Celebracadabra'', and ''The Celebrity Apprentice''.

;Sports:Most of these programs create a sporting competition among athletes attempting to establish their name in that sport. ''The Club'', in 2002, was one of the first shows to immerse sport with reality TV, based on a fabricated club competing against real clubs in the sport of Australian rules football; the audience helped select which players played each week by voting for their favorites. Golf Channel's ''The Big Break'' is a reality show in which aspiring golfers compete against one another and are eliminated. ''The Contender'', a boxing show, unfortunately became the first American reality show in which a contestant committed suicide after being eliminated from the show. In ''The Ultimate Fighter'' participants have voluntarily withdrawn or expressed the desire to withdraw from the show due to competitive pressure.

:In sports shows, sometimes just appearing on the show, not necessarily winning, can get a contestant the job. The owner of UFC declared that the final match of the first season of ''Ultimate Fighter'' was so good, both contestants were offered a contract, and in addition, many non-winning "TUF Alumni" have prospered in the UFC. Many of the losers from World Wrestling Entertainment's ''Tough Enough'' and ''Diva Search'' shows have been picked up by the company.

:Not all sports programs, however, involve athletes trying to make a name in the sport. The 2006 US reality series ''Knight School'' focused on students at Texas Tech University vying for a walk-on (non-scholarship) roster position on the school's men's basketball team under legendary coach Bob Knight. In the Republic of Ireland, RTÉ One's ''Celebrity Bainisteoir'' involves eight non-sporting Irish celebrities becoming ''bainisteoiri'' (managers) of mid-level Gaelic football teams, leading their teams in an officially sanctioned tournament.

Self-improvement/makeover

Some reality television shows cover a person or group of people improving their lives. Sometimes the same group of people are covered over an entire season (as in ''The Swan'' and ''Celebrity Fit Club''), but usually there is a new target for improvement in each episode. Despite differences in the content, the format is usually the same: first the show introduces the subjects in their current, less-than-ideal environment. Then the subjects meet with a group of experts, who give the subjects instructions on how to improve things; they offer aid and encouragement along the way. Finally, the subjects are placed back in their environment and they, along with their friends and family and the experts, appraise the changes that have occurred. Other self-improvement or makeover shows include "How Do I Look?" (fashion makeover). ''The Biggest Loser'' and ''Fat March'', (which covers weight loss), ''Extreme Makeover'' (entire physical appearance), ''Queer Eye'' and ''What Not to Wear'' (style and grooming), ''Supernanny'' (child-rearing), ''Made'' (attaining difficult goals), ''Trinny & Susannah Undress'' (fashion makeover and marriage), ''Tool Academy'' (relationship building) and ''Charm School'' and ''From G's to Gents'' (self-improvement and manners).

Renovation

Some shows make over part or all of a person's living space, work space, or vehicle. The American show ''This Old House'' was the first such show, debuting in 1979. The British show ''Changing Rooms'', beginning in 1996 (later remade in the US as ''Trading Spaces'') was the first such renovation show that added a game show feel with different weekly contestants. Other shows in this category include ''Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'', ''Debbie Travis' Facelift'', ''Designed to Sell'', ''While You Were Out'', and ''Holmes on Homes''. ''Pimp My Ride'' and ''Overhaulin''' show vehicles being rebuilt. Some shows, such as ''Restaurant Makeover'' and ''Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares'', show both the decor and the menu of a failing restaurant being remade. The issue of "making over" was taken to its social extreme with the British show ''Life Laundry'', in which people who had become hoarders, even living in squalor, were given professional assistance.

As with game shows, a gray area exists between such reality TV shows and more conventional formats. Some argue the key difference is the emphasis of the human story and conflicts of reality shows, versus the emphasis on process and information in more traditional format shows. The show ''This Old House'', which began in 1979, the start to finish renovation of different houses through a season; media critic Jeff Jarvis has speculated that it is "the original reality TV show."

Social experiment

Another type of reality program is the social experiment that produces drama, conflict, and sometimes transformation. ''Wife Swap'' which began in 2003 on Channel 4 and has aired for four seasons on ABC is a notable example. People with different values agreed to live by each other's social rules for a brief period of time and sometimes learn from the experience. Other shows in this category include ITV's ''Holiday Showdown,'' Oxygen's ''The Bad Girls Club'' (lifestyles and actions), and Channel 4's ''Secret Millionaire''. ''Faking It'' was a series where people had to learn a new skill and pass themselves off as experts in that skill. ''Shattered'' was a controversial 2004 UK series where contestants competed for how long they could go without sleep.

Dating shows

Unlike the aforementioned dating competition shows, some shows feature all new contestants each episode. This format was first used in the 1960s show ''The Dating Game''. Modern examples include ''Blind Date'', ''Matchmaker'', ''Room Raiders'', ''Elimidate'', ''Next'', and ''Parental Control''.

Talk shows

Though the traditional format of a talk show is that of a host interviewing a featured guest or discussing a chosen topic with a guest or panel of guests, the advent of trash TV shows has often made people group the entire category in with reality television. Programs like ''Ricki Lake'', ''The Jerry Springer Show'', ''Dr. Phil'', ''The Jeremy Kyle Show'' and many others have generally recruited guests by advertising a potential topic for a future program. Topics are frequently outrageous and are chosen in the interest of creating on-screen drama, tension or outrageous behaviour. Though not explicitly reality television by traditional standards, this sort of depiction of someone's life, even if only in a brief interview format, is frequently considered akin to broader-scale reality TV programming.

Hidden cameras

Another type of reality programming features hidden cameras rolling when random passers-by encounter a staged situation. ''Candid Camera'', which first aired on television in 1948, pioneered the format. Modern variants of this type of production include ''Punk'd'', ''Trigger Happy TV'', ''The Jamie Kennedy Experiment'' and ''Just For Laughs Gags''. The series ''Scare Tactics'' and ''Room 401'' are hidden-camera programs in which the goal is to frighten contestants rather than just befuddle or amuse them.

Not all hidden camera shows use strictly staged situations. For example, the syndicated show ''Cheaters'', purports to use hidden cameras to record suspected cheating partners, although the authenticity of the show has been questioned. Once the evidence has been gathered, the accuser confronts the cheating partner with the assistance of the host.

Supernatural and paranormal

Started by ''MTV's Fear'' in 2000, supernatural and paranormal reality shows place participants into frightening situations which ostensibly involve the paranormal. In series such as ''Celebrity Paranormal Project'', the stated aim is investigation, and some series like ''Scariest Places on Earth'' challenge participants to survive the investigation; whereas others such as ''Paranormal State'' and ''Ghost Hunters'' use a recurring crew of paranormal researchers. Shows such as ''Fear Factor'' and ''Scare Tactics'' dispense with supernatural overtones and aim solely at inciting fear or aversion in the cast. In general, the shows follow similar stylized patterns of night vision, surveillance, and hand held camera footage; odd angles; subtitles establishing place and time; desaturated imagery; rapid fire, MTV editing; and non-melodic soundtracks.

Noting the recent trend in reality shows that take the paranormal at face value, New York Times Culture editor Mike Hale characterized ghost hunting shows as "pure theater" and compared the genre to professional wrestling or soft core pornography for its formulaic, teasing approach.

Hoaxes

In hoax reality shows, a false premise is presented to some of the series participants. In truth, the premise of the series is completely different. The rest of the cast are actors who are in on the joke. These shows often served to parody the conventions of the reality TV genre.

The first such show was 2003's ''The Joe Schmo Show''. Other examples are ''My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss'' (modeled after ''The Apprentice''), ''My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance'', ''Hell Date'' (modeled after ''Blind Date''), ''Superstar USA'' (modeled after ''American Idol''), ''Space Cadets'' (which convinced the hoax targets that they were being flown into space), ''Punk'd'' (involving celebrities in staged crises), ''Invasion Iowa'' (in which a town was convinced that William Shatner was filming a movie there), and ''Reality Hell'' (different target and premise every episode).

Other shows, though not hoax shows per se, have offered misleading information to some cast members in order to add a wrinkle to the competition. Examples include ''Boy Meets Boy'' and ''Joe Millionaire''.

Analysis

Political impact

Reality television's global success has been, in the eyes of some analysts, an important political phenomenon. In some authoritarian countries, reality television voting has been the first time many citizens have voted in any free and fair wide-scale elections. In addition, the frankness of the settings on some reality shows present situations that are often taboo in certain orthodox cultures, like ''Star Academy Arab World'', which began airing in 2003, and which shows male and female contestants living together. In 2004, journalist Matt Labash, noting both of these issues, wrote that "the best hope of little Americas developing in the Middle East could be Arab-produced reality TV." In China, after the finale of the 2005 season of ''Super Girl'' (the local version of ''Pop Idol'') drew an audience of around 400 million people, and 8 million text message votes, the state-run English-language newspaper ''Beijing Today'' ran the front-page headline "Is Super Girl a Force for Democracy?" The Chinese government criticized the show, citing both its democratic nature and its excessive vulgarity, or "worldliness", and in 2006 banned it outright. Other attempts at introducing reality television have proved to be similarly controversial. A Pan-Arab version of ''Big Brother'' was cancelled in 2004 after less than two weeks on the air after a public outcry and street protests.

In 2007, Abu Dhabi TV begain airing ''Million's Poet'', a show featuring ''Pop Idol''-style voting and elimination, but for the writing and oration of Arabic poetry. The show became popular in Arab countries, with around 18 million viewers, partly because, according to analysts such as University of Pennsylvania professor Marwan Kraidy, it was able to combine the excitement of reality television with a traditional, culturally relevant topic. In April 2010, however, the show also become a subject of political controversy, when Hissa Hilal, a 43-year-old female Saudi competitor, read out a poem criticizing her country's Muslim clerics. Hilal received the highest scores from the judges throughout the competition, and came in third place overall.

Television critic James Poniewozik wrote that reality shows like ''Deadliest Catch'' and ''Ice Road Truckers'' showcase working-class people of the kind that "used to be routine" on scripted network television, but that became a rarity in the 2000s: "The better to woo upscale viewers, TV has evicted its mechanics and dockworkers to collect higher rents from yuppies in coffeehouses."

Criticism

Influenced by corporate profit motive

Writers for reality television do not receive union pay-scale compensation and union representation, which significantly decreases expenditures for producers and broadcasters. Many of the actors in reality television are compensated for their appearances.

Product placement

Product placement, whereby companies and corporations pay to have their products included in television programming for marketing purposes is highly prevalent in reality television.

The following is a list of television shows with the most instances of product placement (11/07–11/08; Nielsen Media Research). Eight out of the ten are reality television shows.

''The Biggest Loser'' 6,248

''American Idol'', 4,636

''Extreme Makeover: Home Edition''', 3,371

''America's Toughest Jobs'', 2,807

''Deal or No Deal'', 2,292

''America's Next Top Model'', 2,241

''Last Comic Standing'', 1,993

''Kitchen Nightmares'' 1,853

''Hell's Kitchen'', 1,807

"Reality" as misnomer

Some commentators have said that the name "reality television" is an inaccurate description for several styles of program included in the genre. Irene McGee, a castmember on the 1998 ''The Real World: Seattle'', has done public speaking tours about the negative and misleading aspects of reality TV.

Unreal environments

In competition-based programs such as ''Big Brother'' and ''Survivor'', and other special living environment shows like ''The Real World'', the producers design the format of the show and control the day-to-day activities and the environment, creating a completely fabricated world in which the competition plays out. Producers specifically select the participants and use carefully designed scenarios, challenges, events, and settings to encourage particular behaviors and conflicts. Mark Burnett, creator of ''Survivor'' and other reality shows, has agreed with this assessment, and avoids the word "reality" to describe his shows; he has said, "I tell good stories. It really is not reality TV. It really is unscripted drama."

Misleading editing

In 2004, VH1 aired a program called ''Reality TV Secrets Revealed'', which detailed various misleading tricks of reality TV producers. According to the show, various reality shows (notably ''Joe Millionaire'') combined audio and video from different times, or from different sets of footage, to create an artificial illusion of time chronology that did not occur, and a misportrayal of participant behaviors and actions.

In docusoap programming, which follows people in their daily life, producers may be highly deliberate in their editing strategies, able to portray certain participants as heroes or villains, and may guide the drama through altered chronology and selective presentation of events. A Season 3 episode of ''Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe'' included a segment on the ways in which selective editing can be used to this end.

Restaging

According to VH1's ''Reality TV Secrets Revealed'', the shows ''The Restaurant'' and ''Survivor'' had at times recreated incidents that had actually occurred, but were not properly recorded by cameras to the required technical standard, or had not been recorded at all. In order to get the footage, the event was restaged for the cameras.

Premeditated scripting and acting

Reality television shows have faced speculation that the participants themselves are involved in fakery, acting out storylines that have been planned in advance by producers. ''The Hills'' is one notable example; the show has long faced allegations that its plots are scripted ahead of time. During the second season of ''Hell's Kitchen'', it was speculated that the customers eating meals prepared by the contestants were in fact paid actors. Some participants of reality shows have also stated afterwards that they altered their behavior to appear more crazy or emotional in order to get more camera time.

Daniel Petrie Jr., former president of the Writers Guild of America, west, an organization that represents 9,000 Hollywood film and television writers, stated: "We look at reality TV, which is billed as unscripted, and we know it is scripted. We understand that shows don't want to call the writers writers because they want to maintain the illusion that it is reality, that stuff just happens."

Misleading premise

Even the premise of shows has been called into question. The winner of the first "cycle", in 2003, of ''America's Next Top Model'', Adrianne Curry, claimed that part of the grand prize she received, a modeling contract with Revlon, was for a much smaller amount of work than what was promised throughout the show. During the airing of the first season of ''A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila'', in which a group of both men and women vied for the heart of Tila Tequila, there were rumors that its star was not only heterosexual, but also had a boyfriend already. The show's winner, Bobby Banhart, claimed that he never saw Ms. Tequila again after the show finished taping, and that he was never even given her telephone number.

Instant celebrity

Reality television has the potential to turn its participants into national celebrities, at least for a short period. This is most notable in talent-search programs such as the ''Idol'' series, which has spawned music stars in many of the countries in which it has aired. Many other shows, however, such as ''Survivor'' and ''Big Brother'', have made at least temporary celebrities out of their participants; some participants have then been able to parlay this fame into media careers. For example, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, a contestant on ''Survivor: The Australian Outback'', later became a host on morning talk show ''The View''; and Kristin Cavallari, who appeared on ''Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County'', has gone on to become a television host and actress. Michael "The Situation" Sorrentino, who appeared on MTV's ''Jersey Shore'', was able to parlay his fame into lucrative endorsement deals. Jamie Chung, a former contestant on ''The Real World'', went on to pursue an acting career, starring in films such as ''Sucker Punch''. Tiffany Pollard, originally a contestant on ''Flavor of Love'', was eventually given four additional reality series of her own on VH1: ''I Love New York'', ''I Love New York 2'', ''New York Goes to Hollywood'' and ''New York Goes to Work''. In Britain, Jade Goody became famous after appearing on ''Big Brother 3'' in 2002; she later appeared on other reality programs, wrote a bestselling autobiography and launched a top-selling perfume line. She later received extensive media coverage during her battle with cervical cancer, from which she died in 2009. Mike "The Miz" Mizanin, who has appeared on ''The Real World'' and various spin-offs, later became a professional wrestler for World Wrestling Entertainment.

Some reality-television alumni take on the role of professional greeters at nightclubs, appear at automobile shows, and the like.

Reality TV contestants are sometimes derided as "Z-list celebrities" or "nonebrities" who have done nothing to warrant their newfound fame. The newspaper ''The Sun'' defined a "nonebrity" as "a pointless media figure who would love to rise up high enough to scrape on to the bottom end of the D-list."

As a spectacle of humiliation

Some have claimed that the success of reality television is due to its ability to provide ''schadenfreude'', by satisfying the desire of viewers to see others humiliated. American magazine ''Entertainment Weekly'' wrote, "Do we watch reality television for precious insight into the human condition? Please. We watch for those awkward scenes that make us feel a smidge better about our own little unfilmed lives." Media analyst Tom Alderman wrote, "There is a sub-set of Reality TV that can only be described as Shame TV because it uses humiliation as its core appeal."

Television critic James Poniewozik has disagreed with this assessment, writing, "for all the talk about 'humiliation TV,' what's striking about most reality shows is how good humored and resilient most of the participants are: the American Idol rejectees stubbornly convinced of their own talent, the Fear Factor players walking away from vats of insects like Olympic champions. What finally bothers their detractors is, perhaps, not that these people are humiliated but that they are not."

Participation of children

Jon & Kate Plus 8

The reality show ''Jon & Kate Plus 8'', which showed a family of two parents (Jon and Kate Gosselin) raising their eight children, caused controversy when, in June 2009, Jon and Kate began divorce proceedings, and it emerged that Jon had been involved with other women prior to the divorce. The episode announcing their separation became the most-watched of the series, with 10.6 million viewers.

TLC has announced that ''Jon & Kate Plus 8'' will continue under the new title ''Kate Plus Eight''. Criticism has been raised regarding Kate's intentions of continuing with the show, as well as whether or not the children are being exploited or may be under emotional distress. According to lawyer Gloria Allred:

In the case of the show, the children's workplace is their home. Currently there are no clear laws in Pennsylvania (where the Gosselins reside) regarding a child's appearance on a reality show. However, Pennsylvania law permits kids who are at least seven years old to work in the entertainment industry, as long as certain guidelines are followed and a permit is obtained. For example, children may not work after 11:30 pm under most circumstances, or perform in any location that serves alcohol.

Kate defended her position that the children are happy and healthy, and not in any danger. In addition, Jon has stated that they are "in talks" regarding ensuring the children's happiness, and that there is no truth to any reports that the children have been hurt by the series. TLC released a statement saying that the network "fully complies with all applicable laws and regulations" to produce the show. The statement also said that "for an extended period of time, we have been engaged in cooperative discussions and supplied all requested information to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry".

Other examples

In another much-publicized case, issues have been raised about the underlying motives that led to the balloon boy hoax, in which six-year-old Falcon Heene was reportedly coerced by his father to stage for a frantic, live-on-TV chase for an out-of-control helium balloon in which he was suspected to be. The police said that the father engineered the hoax with the hope of generating enough publicity in order to get the family back into the reality-show business, after two appearances on ABC's ''Wife Swap''. In an interview with the ''Denver Post'', child psychologist Alan Zimmerman said:

The same article quoted psychologist Jamie Huysman as saying, "It is exploitation [...] Nobody wants to watch normal behavior. Kids have to be co-conspirators to get the camera to stay on."

Counter Arguments

Despite arguments that realism cannot be achieved in reality shows because the outcomes may or may not have been scripted, Geoff King argues in his book, ''Spectacle of the Real: From Hollywood to Reality TV and Beyond'': even though the contestants are in a fabricated setting and the situation has been set up for a certain outcome, as in real love shows such as ''The Bachelor'' and ''The Bachelorette'', these contestants still harbor feelings that make their participation in the show real to them. King says: (1958), another Robert Sheckley story, was about a television show in which a contestant volunteers to be hunted for a week by trained killers, with a large cash prize if he survives. It was adapted in 1970 as the TV movie ''Das Millionenspiel'', and again in 1983 as the movie ''Le Prix du Danger''.

"It Could Be You" (1964), a short story by Australian Frank Roberts, features a day-in-day-out televised blood sport.

''Survivor'' (1965), a science fiction story by Walter F. Moudy, depicted the 2050 "Olympic War Games" between Russia and the United States. The games are fought to show the world the futility of war and thus deter further conflict. Each side has one hundred soldiers who fight with rifles, mortars, and machine guns in a large natural arena. The goal is for one side to wipe out the other; the few who survive the battle become heroes. The games are televised, complete with color commentary discussing tactics, soldiers' personal backgrounds, and slow-motion replays of their deaths.

''Bread and Circuses'' (1968) was an episode of the TV show ''Star Trek'' in which the crew visits a planet resembling the Roman Empire, but with 20th century technology. The planet's "Empire TV" features regular gladiatorial games, with the announcer urging viewers at home to vote for their favorites, stating, "This is your program. You pick the winner." The show included several jabs at real-world television, such as a praetorian threatening, "You bring this network's ratings down, Flavius, and we'll do a special on you!"

''The Year of the Sex Olympics'' (1968) was a BBC television play in which a dissident in a dictatorship is forced onto a secluded island and taped for a reality show in order to keep the masses entertained.

''The Unsleeping Eye'' (1973), a novel by D.G. Compton (also published as ''The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe''), was about a woman dying of cancer whose last days are recorded without her knowledge for a television show. It was later adapted as the 1980 movie ''Death Watch''.

"Ladies And Gentlemen, This Is Your Crisis" (1976) was a short story by science fiction author Kate Wilhelm about a television show in which contestants (including a B-list actress who is hoping to revitalize her career) attempt to make their way to a checkpoint after being dropped off in the Alaskan wilderness, while being filmed and broadcast around the clock through an entire weekend. The story focuses primarily on the show's effect on a couple whose domestic tensions and eventual reconciliation parallel the dangers faced by the contestants.

''Network'' (1976) was a film predictive of a number of trends in broadcast television, including reality programming. One subplot featured network executives negotiating with an urban terrorist group for the production of a weekly series, each episode of which was to feature an act of terrorism.

''Real Life'' (1979) where a pushy, narcissistic filmmaker persuades a Phoenix family to let him and his crew film their everyday lives. A parody of the ground-breaking PBS series ''An American Family''.

''The Running Man'' (1982) was a book by Stephen King depicting a game show in which a contestant flees around the world from "hunters" trying to chase him down and kill him; it has been speculated that the book was inspired by Robert Sheckley's ''The Prize of Peril''. The book was loosely adapted as a 1987 movie of the same name. The movie removed most of the reality-TV element of the book: its competition now took place entirely within a large TV studio, and more closely resembled an athletic competition (though a deadly one).

The film ''20 Minutes into the Future'' (1985), and the spin-off TV show ''Max Headroom'', revolved around television mainly based on live, often candid, broadcasts. In one episode of ''Max Headroom'', "Academy", the character Blank Reg fights for his life on a courtroom game show, with the audience deciding his fate.

''Vengeance on Varos'' (1985) was an episode of the TV show ''Doctor Who'' in which the population of a planet watches live TV broadcasts of the torture and executions of those who oppose the government. The planet's political system is based on the leaders themselves facing disintegration if the population votes 'no' to their propositions. This episode is often credited as the origins of "voting someone off".

Pop culture references

Some scripted and written works have used reality television as a plot device:

Films

''American Dreamz'' (2006) is a film set partially on an ''American Idol''-like show.

''EDtv'' (1999) was a remake of ''Louis the 19th, King of the Airwaves''.

''Louis the 19th, King of the Airwaves'' (1994) is a Québécois film about a man who signs up to star in a 24-hour-a-day reality TV show.

''Real Life'' (1979) is a comedic film about the creation of a show similar to ''An American Family'' gone horribly wrong.

''Series 7: The Contenders'' (2001) is a film about a reality show in which contestants have to kill each other to win.

In the film ''She's All That'' (1999), the girlfriend of one of the main characters is stolen by a former castmember of ''The Real World'' (played by Matthew Lillard)

''Tomb of the Werewolf'' (2004) is a film about a man searching for treasure while being followed by a reality show film crew, who encounters a werewolf and a vampire instead.

''The Truman Show'' (1998) is a film about a man (Jim Carrey) who discovers that his entire life is being staged and filmed for a 24-hour-a-day reality TV show.

Television

"Bad Wolf" (2005) is an episode of the TV show ''Doctor Who'' in which the characters find themselves trapped in various real-life reality television shows.

''The Comeback'' (2005) satirizes the indignity of reality TV by presenting itself as "raw footage" of a new reality show documenting the attempted comeback of has-been star Valerie Cherish.

"Helter Shelter" (2002) is an episode of ''The Simpsons'' in which the family become contestants in "The 1895 Challenge," living for several weeks in a Victorian style house with antique furniture and no electricity. To boost the ratings, they soon find themselves being abused and humiliated by the show's director, who states that he created the show "by watching Dutch television and tweaking the title." ''The Simpsons'' has also repeatedly spoofed reality TV and made reference to fictitious reality shows, with such titles as "Tied To A Bear," "Sucker Punch," "Mystery Injection," "Animal Survivor,", "No-Pants Island" and "Fart Date."

''Rock Rivals'' (2008) is a British television show about two judges on a televised singing contest whose marriage is falling apart.

"Special Service" (1989) was an episode of the remade TV series ''The Twilight Zone'', in which a man discovers that his life has secretly been videotaped and is a huge hit on a network television show.

'':Total Drama Island'' (2007) is a Canadian animated series about teenagers on a ''Survivor''-like show. It was subsequently followed by Total Drama Action (2009) and Total Drama World Tour (2010).

Web

"Realistically Speaking 1&2" (2007) is a two-part web-episode of ''Hero Envy'' in which one of the main characters allows a reality-TV film crew to document his and his friends' lives in an elimination-style game in exchange for money.

Music

"Celebrity," a 2003 song by Brad Paisley from the album ''Mud on the Tires'', makes fun of both reality television contestants and their ability to become famous without any real talent, as well as celebrity antics in general. The song reached #31 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the Hot Country Singles chart.

"Reality Show" is a song by T-Pain, from the 2008 album ''Thr33 Ringz'', in which he sings to his lover, "Let's make a reality show", to "show 'em how much we in love".

"Real" is a song by James Wesley from his 2010 album ''Real''. The song mocks various reality shows popular in the United States as unreal (he specifically mentions ''The Bachelor'', ''Survivor'', ''The Amazing Race'' and ''The Real Housewives''), comparing them unfavorably with real-life hardships. The song peaked at #22 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles charts.

Books

''Chart Throb'' (2006) is a comic novel by Ben Elton that parodies ''The X Factor'' and ''The Osbournes'', among other reality shows.

''Dead Famous'' (2001) is a comedy/whodunit novel, also by Ben Elton, in which a contestant is murdered while on a ''Big Brother''-like show.

''Oryx and Crake'' (2003), a speculative fiction novel by ''Margaret Atwood'', occasionally makes mentions of the protagonist and his friend entertaining themselves by watching reality TV shows of live executions, ''Noodie News'', frog squashing, graphic surgery, and child pornography.

Other influences on popular culture

A number of scripted television shows have taken the form of documentary-type reality TV shows, in "mockumentary" style. The first such show was the BBC series ''Operation Good Guys'', which premiered in 1997. Other examples include ''People Like Us'', ''Trailer Park Boys'', ''The Office'', ''Modern Family'', ''Drawn Together'', ''Summer Heights High'', ''Total Drama Island'', ''Parks and Recreation'', ''Reno 911!'' and Come Fly With Me.

Some feature films have been produced that use some of the conventions of reality television; such films are sometimes referred to as reality films, and sometimes simply as documentaries. Allen Funt's 1970 hidden camera movie ''What Do You Say to a Naked Lady?'' was based on his reality-television show ''Candid Camera''. The TV show ''Jackass'' spawned four films: ''Jackass: The Movie'' in 2001, ''Jackass: Number Two'' in 2006, ''Jackass 2.5'' in late 2007, and ''Jackass 3D'' in 2010. A similar show, ''Extreme Duudsonit'', was adapted for the film ''The Dudesons Movie'' in 2006. The producers of ''The Real World'' created ''The Real Cancun'' in 2003. ''Games People Play: New York'' was released in 2004.

The mumblecore film genre, which began in the mid-2000s, and uses video cameras and relies heavily on improvisation and non-professional actors, has been described as influenced in part by what one critic called "the spring-break psychodrama of MTV's ''The Real World''". Mumblecore director Joe Swanberg has said, "As annoying as reality TV is, it's been really good for filmmakers because it got mainstream audiences used to watching shaky camerawork and different kinds of situations."

See also

:Broadcast media

Bunim/Murray Productions

Endemol

Factual television

Great Reality TV Swindle

Matt Kunitz

John Langley

List of reality television programs

List of television show franchises

Media manipulation

Prolefeed

References

Further reading

''Big Brother - Why Bother?'' - Graham Barnfield's Spiked commentary

Caudle, Melissa (2011). ''The Reality of Reality TV: Reality Show Business Plans''. CreateSpace. ISBN 1460916980. A step-by-step approach to writing business plans for reality shows.

DeVolld, Troy (2011). ''Reality TV: An Insiders Guide to Reality Television''. Michael Wiese Productions. ISBN 1932907998. A working producer provides information about how reality shows are made and how to develop a lasting career in the genre.

Hill, Annette (2005). ''Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television''. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-26152-X.

Murray, Susan, and Laurie Ouellette, eds. (2004). ''Reality TV: Remaking Television Culture''. New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-5688-3

Nichols, Bill (1994). ''Blurred Boundaries: Questions of Meaning in Contemporary Culture''. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-34064-0.

''Lord of the fly-on-the-walls'' - Observer article: Paul Watson's UK & Australian docusoaps

Zeven werklozen samen op zoek naar een baan by Raymond van den Boogaard, NRC Handelsblad, September 28, 1996 (Dutch) - about ''Nummer 28'' being the inspiration for ''The Real World''

Reality TV continues its downward spiral of morality

External links

Truth or Dare: The Reality of British Television, a panel of experts discuss Reality TV, BAFTA Webcast, January 2008

The Reality of Reality Television, Mark Greif's assessment of Reality TV from n+1

Category:Article Feedback Pilot Category:Reality television series Category:Game shows Category:Television genres

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A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories firsthand from a war zone. In the 19th century they were also called ''Special Correspondents''.

Methods

Their jobs require war correspondents to deliberately go to the most conflict-ridden parts of the world. Once there they attempt to get close enough to the action to provide written accounts, photos, or film footage. Thus, being a war correspondent is often considered the most dangerous form of journalism. On the other hand, war coverage is also one of the most successful branches of journalism. Newspaper sales increase greatly in wartime and television news ratings go up. News organizations have sometimes been accused of warmongering because of the advantages they gather from conflict. William Randolph Hearst is often said to have encouraged the Spanish-American War for this reason. (See Yellow journalism)

Only some conflicts receive extensive worldwide coverage, however. Among recent wars, the Kosovo War received a great deal of coverage, as did the Persian Gulf War. Many third-world wars, however, tend to receive less substantial coverage because corporate media are often less interested, the lack of infrastructure makes reporting more difficult and expensive, and the conflicts are also far more dangerous for war correspondents.

History

Written war correspondents have existed as long as journalism. Before modern journalism it was more common for longer histories to be written at the end of a conflict. The first known of these is Herodotus's account of the Persian Wars, however he did not himself participate in the events. Thucydides, who some years later wrote a history of the Peloponnesian Wars was an observer to the events he described.

The first modern war correspondent is said to be Dutch painter Willem van de Velde, who in 1653 took to sea in a small boat to observe a naval battle between the Dutch and the English, of which he made many sketches on the spot, which he later developed into one big drawing that he added to a report he wrote to the States General. A further modernization came with the development of newspapers and magazines . One of the earliest war correspondents was Henry Crabb Robinson, who covered Napoleon's campaigns in Spain and Germany for ''The Times'' of London.

Crimean War

William Howard Russell, who covered the Crimean War, also for ''The Times'', is often described as the first modern war correspondent. The stories from this era, which were almost as lengthy and analytical as early books on war, took numerous weeks from being written to being published.

Russo-Japanese War

It was not until the telegraph was developed that reports could be sent on a daily basis and events could be reported as they occurred that the short mainly descriptive stories of today became common. Press coverage of the Russo-Japanese War was affected by restrictions on the movement of reporters and strict censorship. In all military conflicts which followed this 1904-1905 war, close attention to more managed reporting was considered essential.

First World War

The First World War was the first modern mediated war in the sense that warfare becomes conflicts and controversies between parties who exchange information and arguments indirectly by the mass media and their special correspondents reporting from the front lines of warfare. The discourse in mediated conflicts is influenced by its public character. By forwarding information and arguments to the media, conflict parties attempt to gain support from their constituencies and persuade their opponents.

The continued progress of technology has allowed live coverage of events via satellite up-links. The rise of twenty-four hour news channels has led to a heightened demand for coverage.

Early film and television news rarely had war correspondents. Rather they would simply collect footage provided by other sources, often the government, and the news anchor would then add narration. This footage was often staged as cameras were large and bulky. This changed dramatically with the Vietnam War when networks from around the world sent cameramen with portable cameras and correspondents. This proved damaging to the United States as the full brutality of war became a daily feature on the nightly news.

Notable war correspondents

Some of them became authors of fiction drawing on their war experiences, including Davis, Crane and Hemingway.

19th century

Kit Coleman first female war correspondent

George Wingrove Cooke, Second Opium War, 1857-1858.

Thomas Bowlby, North China Campaign 1860.

Archibald Forbes

Stephen Crane (1871–1900); covered the 1897 Greco-Turkish War, where he contracted tuberculosis.

Howard C. Hillegas, covered Boer Wars

William Howard Russell

Frederic Villiers

Benjamin C. Truman

20th century

Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett (1881–1931); covered the Russo-Japanese War and World War I.

Bill Boss (1917–2007) Canadian war correspondent, for the Canadian Press, who covered World War II.

Alexandra Boulat

Margaret Bourke-White (1904–1971); first female war correspondent, photographed Buchenwald concentration camp

Mary Marvin Breckinridge (1905–2002); covered World War II.

Wilfred Burchett (1911–1983); covered the Pacific War, Korean War and Vietnam War. He was known for covering news from the "other side" of the battlefield, and was often criticised of being a communist sympathiser.

Larry Burrows

Robert Capa (1913–1954); covered the Spanish Civil War, Second Sino-Japanese War, the European Theatre of World War II and the First Indochina War (where he was killed by a landmine).

Dickey Chapelle (1918–1965); covered the Pacific War, the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and the Vietnam War (where she was killed by a landmine). She was the first female US war correspondent to be killed in action.

Greg Clarke (1892–1977) Canadian war correspondent who covered World War I and II.

Basil Clarke (1879–1947); covered the fighting on the Western Front during WWI.

Alexander Clifford, covered World War II

Burton Crane (1901–1963); covered occupied Japan after World War II and the Korean War for the ''New York Times''.

Walter Cronkite (1916-2009); covered the European Theater during World War II for United Press.

Neil Davis - Australian combat cameraman covered the Vietnam War, Cambodia and Laos and subsequently conflicts in Africa.

Albert K. Dawson (1885–1967); American photographer and film correspondent with the German, Austrian and Bulgarian army during the First World War

Luc Delahaye

Richard Dimbleby (1913–1965); covered World War II

David Douglas Duncan

Kurt Eggers (-1943) World War II SS correspondent, editor of the SS magazine ''Das Schwarze Korps'', was killed while reporting on the Wiking's battles near Kharkov. The German SS-Standarte Kurt Eggers was named in his honor.

Gloria Emerson (1929–2004); covered the Vietnam War.

Bernard B. Fall (1926–1967); covered the First Indochina War and the Vietnam War (where he was killed by a landmine).

Sylvana Foa, correspondent in Vietnam and Cambodia

J.C. Furnas; covered World War II.

Joseph L. Galloway (born November 13, 1941), UPI correspondent in Vietnam and co-author of ''We Were Soldiers Once...and Young''.

Martha Gellhorn (1908–1998); covered the Spanish Civil War, World War II, Vietnam War, the Six-Day War and even the U.S. invasion of Panama.

Georgie Anne Geyer (born 1935); covered the Guatemalan Civil War and the Algerian Civil War.

Philip Gibbs; Official war Correspondent for Britain during the First World War.

Nakayama Gishu

Al Gore (born 1948); covered the Vietnam War.

Henry Tilton Gorrell (1911–1958); United Press correspondent. Covered the Spanish Civil War and World War II. Author of "Soldier of the Press, Covering the Front in Europe and North Africa, 1936-1943" published by the University of Missouri Press, 2009.

Cork Graham (born 1964); imprisoned in Vietnam for illegally entering the country while looking for treasure buried by Captain Kidd.

Louis Grondijs (1878–1961); covered Russo-Japanese War, World War I, the Russian Civil War, the Japanese invasion of Manchuria and the Spanish Civil War.

Corra Harris early women correspondent in World War I.

David Halberstam

Macdonald Hastings

Max Hastings

Ron Haviv

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961); covered the Spanish Civil War and World War II.

Michael Herr

Marguerite Higgins; paved the way for female war correspondents.

Clare Hollingworth covered World War II, Algerian War, Vietnam War

Philip Jones Griffiths

Gary Knight

Larry LeSueur, CBS radio correspondent, reported from rooftops during World War II London blitzes, went ashore in the first waves of the D-Day invasion, and broadcast to America the Allied liberation of Paris.

Jim G. Lucas, Scripps-Howard Newspapers, reported human interest stories from the front lines in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

Alexander Gault MacGowan, (1894-1970), correspondent for ''The Sun'' (New York), reported from the front lines in World War II.

Anne O'Hare McCormick

Don McCullin

Alan Moorehead, covered World War II

Christopher Morris

Ralph Morse, (born 1917) covered World War II

Edward R. Murrow (1908-1965) Covered the Blitz in London and the European Thearer during World War II.

James Nachtwey

George Sessions Perry (1910–1956) Covered WWII for Harper's Weekly and Saturday Evening Post. He accompanied troops on the invasions of Italy and France. Said after the war that his war experiences "de-fictionalized" him for life, and he never wrote fiction again.

Roy Pinney (1911–2010) covered World War II and was present at the Normandy landing on D-Day for the Normandy Invasion. He also covered the Yom Kippur War in the Gaza Strip and conflicts in Afghanistan, the Philippines, South Africa and Colombia.

Ernie Pyle, Scripps-Howard Newspapers, reported human interest stories from the front lines in World War II, Pulitzer Prize, 1944

Yvonne Ridley

Joe Rosenthal, received the Pulitzer Prize for his iconic World War II photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima

John Sack

Sydney Schanberg, his experiences in Cambodia during the Vietnam War are dramatized in ''The Killing Fields''

Sigrid Schultz

Robert Sherrod, WW II, Pacific theatre, Guadacanal and Tarawa/Saipan

William L. Shirer

Richard Tregaskis, author of ''Guadalcanal Diary'', dramatized in movie of same name.

Osmar White

Eric Lloyd Williams

Chester Wilmot

21st century

Richard Engel; covered the Iraq War and the 2006 Lebanon War.

Lara Logan

Kevin Sites

Nir Rosen; covered the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan (2001-present).

Dexter Filikins covered the Iraq War.

Jason Feldman covered the Iraq War.

General

Kate Adie (born 1945); covered the Gulf War, Yugoslav Wars, Rwandan Genocide and the Sierra Leone Civil War.

Christiane Amanpour (born 1958); covered the Gulf War and the Bosnian War.

Peter Arnett (born 1934); covered the Vietnam War, 1991 Gulf War, the 2001 Invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 Iraq War.

Martin Bell (born 1938); covered the Vietnam War, Biafra War, The Troubles in Northern Ireland, the Angolan Civil War and the Bosnian War.

Mile Cărpenişan (born August 23, 1975 – died March 22, 2010) covered the Iraq war and Kosovo war

Peter Cave (born 1952); covered the Gulf War, Yugoslav Wars, the Coconut War in the New Hebrides , Iraq War, Tiananmen Square , Lebanon , Egypt and Libya

Anderson Cooper, at age of 42, a renowned War correspondent serving CNN.

Winston Churchill (1874–1965); covered the Siege of Malakand, the Mahdist War and the Second Boer War.

Richard Harding Davis (1864–1916); covered the Spanish-American War, Second Boer War and the fighting on the Macedonian front during World War I.

Lady Florence Dixie (1855–1905); covered the First Boer War

Roy Pinney (born 1911) covered World War II and was present at the Normandy landing on D-Day for the Normandy Invasion. He also covered the Yom Kippur War in the Gaza Strip and conflicts in Afghanistan, the Philippines, South Africa and Colombia. Among the approximately 500 war correspondents covering the Normandy Invasion Roy Pinney is the oldest living survivor. Andy Rooney of 60 Minutes fame is also among the oldest survivors.

Robert Fisk (born 1946); covered the Lebanese Civil War, the Iranian Revolution, Iran–Iraq War, the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the Algerian Civil War, Kosovo War and the 2003 Iraq War.

Peggy Hull (1889–1967) covered Mexican-American War, World War I and World War II

Ryszard Kapuściński

Helen Kirkpatrick (1909–1997) covered World War II including The Blitz, Normandy Invasion and Liberation of France.

Rick Leventhal (born 1960) covered the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya

George Lewis NBC News Vietnam War 1970-1973

Terry Lloyd

Anthony Loyd

Karen Maron

Waldemar Milewicz

Kenji Nagai

Arturo Pérez-Reverte, worked for Pueblo newspaper and Spanish TVE. Covered the Bosnian War among others.

Robert Young Pelton Best known for his 1000+ page guide to warzones and survival, The World's Most Dangerous Places.

John Pilger

Dan Rather

Anna Politkovskaya

Joe Sacco comics artist who covered the Gulf War and Bosnian War

Morley Safer

Chris Hedges

Kurt Schork

Sylvester "Harry" Scovell influential yellow journalist in Spanish-American War

Giuliana Sgrena

John Simpson

Daniel Smith

Michael Ware (born 1969); ongoing coverage of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Reporting from the perspectives of all combatant groups.

Trevor Watson (born 1953, Sydney, Australia) the Soviet war in Afghanistan, Cambodia, military rebellion in Fiji, Tiananmen Square

Kate Webb

Rod Williams Hall of Fame broadcaster covered Vietnam War

Michael Yon (born 1964); Former Green Beret, turned journalist and author. Embedded with American, British and Lithuanian combat units in Iraq War and Afghanistan War.

Jacques Leslie, Vietnam and Cambodia War correspondent for the ''Los Angeles Times'', 1972–1973, 1975. Leslie was the first American journalist to enter and return from Viet Cong (National Liberation Front) territory in South Vietnam, in January 1973.

Books by war correspondents

Witnesses to War Fay Anderson and Richard Trembath

''The Secret Life of War'' by Peter Beaumont

"War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning" by Chris Hedges

''Anyone Here Been Raped and Speaks English'' by Edward Behr

''The Face of War'' by Martha Gellhorn

"Aftermath: Following the Bloodshed of America's Wars in the Muslim World" by Nir Rosen

''Dispatches'' by Michael Herr

''The Soccer War'' by Ryszard Kapuściński

"A Small Corner of Hell:Dispatches from Chechnya" by Anna Politkovskaya

"The Forever War" by Dexter Filkins

''Generation Kill'' by Evan Wright

"My Lai 4: A Report on the Massacre and Its Aftermath" by Seymour Hersh

"The Massacre at El Mozote" by Mark Danner

"Seasons in Hell: Understanding Bosnia's War" by Ed Vulliamy

''My War Gone By, I Miss It So'' by Anthony Loyd

''Unreasonable Behaviour: An Autobiography'' by Don McCullin

''Soldier of the Press: Covering the Front in Europe and North Africa, 1936-1943'' by Henry T. Gorrell

''Dispatches from War, memoirs" by Anderson Cooper

"The Mark: A War Correspondent's Memoir of Vietnam and Cambodia" by Jacques Leslie

"We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families" by Philip Gourevitch

See also

Breathing (memorial sculpture)

Embedded journalism

List of foreign correspondents in the Spanish Civil War

Military journalism

Press pool

War correspondents 1942–1943

:Category:War correspondents

Notes

References

Stephen D. Reese, Stephen D., Oscar H. Gandy and August E. Grant. (2001). ''Framing Public Life: Perspectives on Media and Our Understanding of the Social World.'' Maywah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum. 10-ISBN 0-805-83653-5; 13-ISBN 978-0-805-83653-0; OCLC 46383772

External links

War Correspondents: A Book Bibliography

A statistical analysis of journalists killed in Iraq since hostilities began in March 2003

['Covering D-Day: An Allied Journalist's Perspective' – a report written by David J. Marcou for British Heritage magazine's website, for the 60th anniversary of D-Day, dealing with media coverage of the Normandy Landings, on and/or around June 6, 1944.]

Biographical dictionary of 24,000+ British and Irish journalists who died between 1800 and 1960

Category:Reporting specialties Category:People associated with war *

ar:مراسل حربي de:Kriegsberichterstattung es:Periodismo de guerra fr:Correspondant de guerre ko:종군 기자 mr:विशेष प्रतिनिधी nl:Oorlogsverslaggever ja:従軍記者 no:Krigsreportasje pl:Reporter wojenny pt:Correspondente de guerra ru:Военный корреспондент sl:Vojni dopisnik fi:Sotakirjeenvaihtaja zh:戰地記者

Name	Kid Rock
Landscape	Yes
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Robert James Ritchie
Born	January 17, 1971Romeo, Michigan, U.S.
Genre	Rock, hip hop, heavy metal, country
Occupation	Musician, Songwriter, Actor
Years active	1988–present
Associated acts	Uncle Kracker, Joe C., Champtown, Yelawolf, Lynyrd Skynyrd
Label	Atlantic, Jive, Top Dog
Website	}}

Robert James "Bob" Ritchie (born January 17, 1971), known by his stage name Kid Rock, is an American singer-songwriter, musician and rapper with five Grammy Awards nominations. Kid Rock released several studio albums that mostly went unnoticed before his 1998 record ''Devil Without a Cause'', released with Atlantic Records, sold 11 million albums behind the hits, "Bawitdaba", "Cowboy", and "Only God Knows Why". In 2000, he released ''The History of Rock,'' a compilation of remixed and remastered versions of songs from previous albums as well as the hit single, "American Bad Ass" and the previously unreleased "Abortion".

Kid Rock released the follow-up in 2001, ''Cocky''. After a slow start, his country-flavored hit "Picture" with Sheryl Crow resurrected the album and it went gold as a single and pushed the album's sales over 5 million. It was followed by 2003's self-titled release, which did not chart a major hit. In 2006 he released ''Live Trucker'', a live album.

In 2007 Kid Rock released ''Rock n Roll Jesus'', which produced a hit in "All Summer Long". It was his first worldwide smash hit, charting #1 in eight countries across Europe and in Australia. ''Rock N Roll Jesus'' sold 5 million albums worldwide and was certified triple platinum in the U.S. He released ''Born Free'' on November 16, 2010. It was announced on June 16, 2011 that "Born Free" was certified platinum by the 'Recording Industry Association Of America' (RIAA) for selling more than one million copies. This gives Kid Rock his sixth Platinum album certification.

Early life

Robert James "Bob" Ritchie was born on January 17, 1971 in Romeo, Michigan to William "Bill" Ritchie, a car dealer who owned several local dealerships, and Susan Ritchie. His family also owned a six-acre orchard and Ritchie regularly helped pick apples and cared for the family's horses. He has three siblings: two are older, brother William "Billy" Ritchie and sister Carol Ritchie; and one is younger, sister Jill Ritchie who is an actress. Ritchie found small-town life dull; he became interested in rap music, learned how to breakdance and participated in talent shows in the Detroit area. At age eleven he joined a breakdance crew called the Furious Funkers, and taught himself to work a cheap belt-driven turntable. In high school, Ritchie DJed at parties for beer. He eventually joined Bo Wisdom of Groove Time Productions, in Mt. Clemens, Michigan to perform basement parties for thirty dollars a night. He was then given his stage name; club goers dubbed him "Kid Rock" after they had enjoyed watching "that white kid rock."

Rock started rapping and joined a local hip hop group, The Beast Crew. It was composed of The Blackman, Champtown, KDC, Chris "Doc Roun-Cee" Pouncy. Rock befriended producer D-Nice of the legendary hip-hop group Boogie Down Productions. When Rock opened for BDP one night, D-Nice invited an A&R representative from Jive Records to see him perform. This meeting led to a demo deal, which developed into a full record contract.

Against his parents' wishes, Rock signed the deal at age seventeen. Despite his new record deal, he had a falling out with The Beast Crew when he signed over fellow member Champtown (the two have become friends again since). They left his vocals on the tracks of their debut underground album "Chapter 1: He Don't Want Us No More," against his wishes. Rock later became part of the Straight From The Underground Tour alongside several heavyweights of rap including Ice Cube, Too Short, D-Nice, Mac Dre, and Yo-Yo.

Career

On December 30, 1990 Kid Rock released his debut album ''Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast''. As noted by Insane Clown Posse member Violent J, this album made Kid Rock one of the two biggest rap stars in Detroit in 1990, along with local independent rapper Esham. Though Jive Records did not push the album it gained infamy when radio station WSUC-FM (90.5) of Cortland, NY was fined $23,700 by the FCC for playing the song Yo Da-Lin In the Valley then the largest fine against a radio station. Kid Rock's career had began to decline towards the end of 1990. Jive Records released Kid Rock from his contract in 1991. Once back in Detroit he became friends with Uncle Kracker after battling his brother in a freestyle rapping competition; Uncle Kracker became Kid Rock's DJ.

In late 1991 Kid Rock was picked up by an independent record label called Continuum Records. Though Insane Clown Posse's Violent J disliked Kid Rock's rapping style, he paid Kid Rock to appear on his group's first album, ''Carnival of Carnage'', in an attempt to gain notice for the album. Kid Rock showed up to record the song "Is That You?" intoxicated, but re-recorded his vocals and record scratching the following day. In March 1993, Continuum released his second album ''The Polyfuze Method'', which featured a more rock music-oriented sound with Kid Rock teaching himself how to play several different instruments including guitar, drums, keyboard and organ. The album saw some local college radio success at Central Michigan University with the tracks "Back From The Dead" and "Balls In Your Mouth". He released "U Don't Know Me" as the first single off the album, but it failed to chart, and the music video received little airplay on major music video channels. Kid Rock re-released "Back From The Dead" as a single to mainstream radio, but that too failed as a single. The album has sold around 15,000 copies. In 1992 Kid Rock appeared in the song "Is That You?" of the Carnival of Carnage by the Insane Clown Posse.

He released an Extended play EP called Fire It Up (EP) in 1993 The EP featured the song I Am the Bullgod which wouldn't be a hit until six years later Continuum didn't see a future with Kid Rock after this and released him from his contract in 1994

He moved back to Detroit where his on again off again relationship with Kelly South resulted in a son Robert James Ritchie Jr. Kid Rock released monthly demo tapes dubbed The Bootleg Series which featured demos of him and other up-and coming rappers and garage rock bands in the Detroit area Around the same time Kid Rock formed his back up band Twisted Brown Trucker Band later recruiting Joseph Joe C. Calleja who he met at a 1994 concert as part of the group In 1995 Rock took a job as a janitor at Whiterooms Studios to pay studio fees When he wasn't working, Kid Rock recorded the material that eventually made up his fourth album Early Morning Stoned Pimp which Rock released on his own label Top Dog Records During the recording process he met piano player Jimmie Bones who joined the band soon after The album was released February 12, 1996. A loan from his father aided the release. Kid Rock sold 6,000 copies from the trunk of his car including after his concerts With EMSP local success he released The Polyfuze Method in 1993 with I Am The Bullgod

Lava/Atlantic Records A&R man Andy Karp was interested, after seeing Kid Rock in Cleveland in December 1996 and again in March 1997 Following a two song demo tape containing Somebody's Gotta Feel This and I Got One For Ya [Jason Flom] supported Karp in signing Kid Rock for $100,000 However when recording sessions began Atlantic wanted more of a rock sound and didn't initially like Cowboy Devil Without A Cause and Only God Knows Why They asked Rock to take out I'm going platinum on Devil Without A Cause's chorus but he refused The conflict slowed down production however the album was completed on schedule with Rock mostly playing all the instruments himself

''Devil Without a Cause'' (1997–2002)

In 1997, Kid Rock added drummer/vocalist Stefanie Eulinberg to his band, joining Kenny Olson, Jason Krause, Jimmie Bones, Uncle Kracker, Misty Love, Shirley Hayden and Joe C.. On August 18, 1998, Atlantic released ''Devil Without a Cause'' behind the single "Welcome 2 The Party." Kid Rock went on the Vans Warped Tour to support the album, performing one of his first New York City shows at Luna Lounge on the Lower East Side during the CMJ convention. "Devil Without Cause Im Goin Platinum" Sales of "Welcome 2 The Party" and ''Devil'' were slow, though the 1998 Warped Tour in Northampton, Massachusetts stimulated regional interest in Massachusetts and New England. This led to substantial airplay in the summer and fall of 1998 on rock staples in Massachusetts WZLX and WAAF for the single "I Am The Bullgod." In December 1998, while dj'ing at a club he met and became friends with MTV host Carson Daly. He performed on ''MTV Fashionably Loud'' in Miami, then on MTV's ''Wanna B A VJ'' doing "My Name Is Rock" and was the DJ for ''TRL'' on the Spring Break Special as well as a judge on ''Say What Karaoke''. This raised his profile so by April 1999 ''Devil Without a Cause'' had achieved a gold disc. In May 1999 the single "Bawitdaba" off the album was released to radio outlets, and by June, ''Devil'' had gone platinum. Kid Rock went on his first major tour, Limptropolis, with Limp Bizkit and Staind. By the time he made his career defining performance at Woodstock 1999 on July 24, 1999, he was double platinum. The following single "Cowboy" was an even bigger hit. It was a mix of southern rock, country and rap that made the Top 40. Rock's next single, the rock ballad "Only God Knows Why", was the biggest hit off the album charting at No 19 on the Billboard Hot 100. By the time the final single "Wasting Time" was released the album had sold 7 million albums, ''Devil Without A Cause'' was certified 11 times platinum by the RIAA on April 17, 2003.

Rock was nominated as Best New Artist at the 2000 Grammy Awards, but lost to Christina Aguilera. He was nominated for "Bawitdaba" for Best Hard Rock Performance, but lost to Metallica's "Whiskey in the Jar."

After reacquiring the rights to his early material in 2000, Rock released ''The History of Rock'', a collection of remixed and re-recorded songs from The Polyfuze Method and Early Mornin Stoned Pimp. "American Bad Ass", one of two new tracks, was released as a single. It sampled the Metallica track "Sad But True".

On May 27 Kid Rock appeared on ''Saturday Night Live'' performing "American Bad Ass" and an acoustic version of "Only God Knows Why" that featured Phish's Trey Anastasio. Kid Rock joined Phish later in the year in Las Vegas, Nevada, for a set of cover songs.

A 2000 tour in which David Allan Coe performed as an opening act for Kid Rock was the subject of criticism from journalist Neil Strauss, who alleged that Coe's songs were racist.

From June 30 to August 22, 2000, Kid Rock joined the Summer Sanitarium Tour with Metallica, Korn, Powerman 5000, and System of a Down. Kid Rock filled in for James Hetfield of Metallica, singing vocals on the songs "Enter Sandman", "Sad But True", and "Nothing Else Matters" and the turntables for "Fuel", for three shows after Hetfield injured his spine riding a jet ski on Lake Lanier the day before the July 7 Atlanta concert.

On November 16, 2000 Joseph "Joe C" Calleja died in his sleep from Coeliac disease in Taylor, MI. The disease stunted his growth and forced him to take 60 pills a day. Joe C's final song was "Cool Daddy Cool" for the ''Osmosis Jones'' soundtrack. The band made a cameo in the movie as the band playing in the club scene. Kid Rock was referred to as Kidney Rock to go along with the cartoon aspect of being a cell in the body of Frank played by Bill Murray.

In early 2001, Rock inducted Aerosmith into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and performed "Sweet Emotion" at the induction ceremony. The same year, Rock landed his first acting role in the David Spade white trash comedy ''Joe Dirt''. His character was Robbie a redneck bully to Joe Dirt who was chasing after Joe's unaware love interest Brandy.

"American Bad Ass" was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance at the 2001s Grammy Awards. Losing out to Rage Against The Machine's "Guerilla Radio". The ''History of Rock'' would go on to be certified double platinum.

In November, Kid Rock released ''Cocky'', which was marketed as the official follow up to ''Devil Without a Cause''. With the era of rap metal on the decline, Kid Rock included several southern rock and country ballads on the album. The first single, "Forever", featured his standard brash rap-rock sound, but lacked the selling power of "Devil Without A Cause". The songs "Lonely Road of Faith"and "You Never Met a Motherfucker Quite Like Me" were released as singles, but were not successful, and the album struggled to reach platinum a year later. Rock had problems with the release of "Picture", a country-influenced duet with Sheryl Crow: his label felt it was wrong for his image, and was not keen to spend more money promoting a flagging album; then, when they agreed to release it, Sheryl Crow's label initially refused to give permission. Rock, meanwhile, made a radio version with Allison Moorer, which was gaining airplay. When "Picture" was released it introduced Kid Rock to a wider audience, and was ultimately the most successful single on the album. The song would chart at No 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No 17 on Country radio. The song remains his most successful pop song in the U.S. to date.

On December 14, 2001, CMT aired an episode of ''Crossroads'' featuring Rock with Hank Williams, Jr. The episode drew 2.1 million viewers, a record on CMT. He would perform for troops in January 2002 on an MTV USO Special at Germany's Ramstein Air Base along with Ja Rule and Jennifer Lopez.

At the end of 2002, Uncle Kracker left the band to pursue a solo career, and Detroit underground rapper Paradime replaced him. Kid Rock made his second movie, ''Biker Boyz'', with Laurence Fishburne.

''Kid Rock'' to ''Rock n Roll Jesus'' (2003–2009)

In 2003, Kid Rock returned with an eponymous album, almost stripping away the accustomed rap metal sound he had created, opting for southern rock and several country ballads in the wake of "Picture"'s success. The album's lead single was a cover of Bad Company's "Feel Like Makin' Love". A media blitz accompanied the single capped off by the VH-1 special called ''A Kid Rock Christmas'', which aired on December 14, 2003. He would release "Cold and Empty", "Jackson, Mississippi" and "I Am" I Am (Kid Rock song) to minor success on radio. The David Allan Coe-penned "Single Father", became his second charting country song, although like the other singles it was minor hit at #50. Kid Rock would be his lowest selling mainstream studio album of his career with 1.4 million copies sold.

Kid Rock was involved in the halftime show controversy at Super Bowl XXXVIII in Houston, Texas on February 1, 2004. He was criticized by the Veterans of Foreign Wars for desecrating the American flag, by wearing one slit in the middle as a poncho.

The following month, Kid inducted Bob Seger into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In September 2005, Kid Rock filled in for Johnny Van Zant, the lead singer of Lynyrd Skynyrd on the band's hit "Sweet Home Alabama" at the Hurricane Katrina benefit concert.

He performed the theme song for Spike TV's ''Striperella'', which featured Pamela Anderson in 2003, the song was entitled "Erotica".

On February 28, 2006, Kid Rock released his first live album, ''Live Trucker'', comprising songs from his homestead performances in Clarkston (on September 1, 2000, and August 26 through August 28, 2004), and Detroit's Cobo Hall (March 26, 2004). The album contained the last two performances of Joe C. on "Devil Without a Cause" and "Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp," as well as Kid dueting with country star Sheryl Crow on "Picture."

He brought Bob Seger back from semi-retirement during his pre-Super Bowl concerts on February 2 and 3, 2006 in Detroit. The two performed a version of Seger's "Rock 'n' Roll Never Forgets" on both nights. Kid Rock would appear on Bob Seger's album, ''Face the Promise'', on a Vince Gill cover of "Real Mean Bottle," a tribute to country legend Merle Haggard. He would make a cameo in the movie ''Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector'' and was in an episode of ''CSI: New York'' in 2006.

He inducted Lynyrd Skynyrd into the 2006 Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame and performed "Sweet Home Alabama" with them.

''Rock n Roll Jesus'' was released on October 9, 2007, becoming Kid Rock's first album to go number 1, selling 172,000 copies in its first week. He made the cover of ''Rolling Stone'' magazine for the second time, and appeared for the first time on ''Larry King Live'' to discuss the new album.

The album's first two singles were successful on rock radio in "So Hott" and "Amen". The album's third single "All Summer Long", became a global hit. It utilized a mash up of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" and Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London". "All Summer Long" would chart at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100.

"Rock n Roll Jesus" returned to the Top 10 for 17 straight weeks. Both "Roll On" and the title track were released as follow-up singles. The album's final single was "Blue Jeans and a Rosary" which was a minor country hit at No. 50.

In 2008, Kid Rock recorded "Warrior" for a National Guard advertising campaign. Kid Rock performed on VH1 ''Storytellers'' on November 27, 2008, giving an insight to how he wrote some of his hit songs. On April 5, 2009 he performed a 5-song medley at WrestleMania XXV.

He was nominated for best rock album and best male pop/rock performance for "All Summer Long" at the 2009 Grammys. He lost to Coldplay's ''Viva La Vida'' for best Rock Album and John Mayer's "Say" for Best Male Pop/Rock Performance. He achieved his first country award winning for Best Wide Open Country Video for "All Summer Long" at the 2009 CMT Awards.

On May 22 Kid Rock's June 8, 2008 concert at Germany's Rock AM Festival was aired on every MTV affiliate around the world on their debut show "World Stage".

At the 2008 Download Festival Kid Rock was meant to appear between Seether and Disturbed on the Main Stage but pulled out at the last minute. It was first announced that this was due to illness. Rock later claimed he left the festival grounds after becoming dissatisfied with the amenities. But, the following year, Download's booker theorized that it had been due to a broken heart.

On July 3, 2009 "Rock N Roll Jesus" was certified triple platinum by the RIAA.

Kid Rock held the largest headline concert of his career the weekend of July 17 and 18, 2009, at Comerica Park in Detroit. 80,000 people attended the two shows.

''Born Free'' (2009–present)

In April 2010 Kid Rock started the Born Free era off with a spring cruise dubbed "The Chillin The Most Cruise". Then he followed that up by hosting the CMT Awards in June and performed "Cowboy".

Kid Rock released ''Born Free'' on November 16, 2010 and it debuted at No 5 selling 189,000 copies in its first week. The album was produced by Rick Rubin and featured David Hildago and Matt Sweeney on guitar as well as Chad Smith on drums and Benmont Tench on keys and piano. The album became his first album without a parental advisory sticker on it. The album's lead single was the patriotic "Born Free."It peaked at No 14 on the mainstream rock charts, it also charted on the country and hot ac chart. It was the theme song to the 2010 MLB playoffs on TBS as well as WWE's Tribute To The Troops Special. The album reached gold status on December 15, 2010. The follow up single was the southern working man's anthem "God Bless Saturday", which peaked at no 37 on the mainstream rock tracks. It is the secondary theme song for College Gameday on ESPN. The third single was "Collide", Sheryl Crow rejoined him along with Bob Seger (on piano). They then went on a joint tour together the song peaked at No 26 on the hot ac chart and no 51 on the country chart. The next single "Purple Sky" a cover of Jason Boland would fail to chart. In November 2011, Kid Rock released "Care" a protest song about current politics in D.C. There were multiple versions released for the single. The album version feat. Martina McBride and T.I., the international single feat. Mary J Blidge. The last version which was released when Martina McBride's label wouldn't let her in on the music video, and the video was shot with the Pistol Annie's Angeleena Pressley. It's currently no 28 on the hot ac chart and no 58 on the country chart. An ep was released in the Detroit area along with the album called the Racing Father Time EP feat. It included remixes of Slow My Roll and Lonely Road Of Faith along with "The Midwest Fall" and "Forty". Born Free went platinum in July 2011.

On January 15, 2011 Kid Rock celebrated his 40th birthday with a performance at Ford Field in Detroit. The marathon concert featured Uncle Kracker, Peter Wolfe, Rev Run, Sheryl Crow, Cindy Crawford, Jimmie Johnson and Anita Baker. In December he went a 12 city club tour and donated proceeds to various charties in each city.

Kid Rock is currently writing songs for his successor to ''Born Free''. "We've already started writing for the next record and talking about the feel and where we want to go with it," Rock told Billboard.com during a press conference Thursday announcing an Aug. 12 stadium show in his home town of Detroit. "I think 'Born Free' was kind of a transitional record with [producer] Rick Rubin and going into the rootsy, American blues/rock 'n' roll vibe. I'd kind of like to go back to something like maybe a 'Cocky' feel -- that record, but knowing more now and trying to put those elements together." Rock's other future plan includes coming to terms with video footage he has accumulated over the years and possibly making some commercially available in the near future. "It's something I struggle with," he acknowledged. "I've probably shot six DVDs, professionally, had them edited and everything. But it's like anything; if you go see a sporting event or whatever, it's always better live. It's just tough to capture it on tape." Rock promised that "there will be something... I think for Christmas" and possibly from his recent show at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which he called "one of my best performances to date." He added that he may also consider releasing live footage via his web site.

In 2010 he filmed the Born Free video for his song at the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

On December 7, 2011, Kid Rock joined Metallica on-stage at The Fillmore San Francisco during the ''30 Years of Metallica'' celebration (Day 2) to perform Seger's Turn the Page.

Musical style and influences

Kid Rock's musical style ranges from Midwest hip hop and heavy metal to country rock and rap rock. His influences include Warren Zevon, Jim Croce, Johnny Cash, David Allan Coe, Bob Seger, Run-DMC, Beastie Boys, Whodini, Too Short, Eric B. & Rakim, Esham and Lynyrd Skynyrd .

Twisted Brown Trucker

Twisted Brown Trucker is Kid Rock's band, formed in 1994 in Sterling Heights, Michigan. The original lineup included Kenny Olson on lead guitar, Uncle Kracker on turntables, Andy Gould and George Metropolous on guitar, Paul Anthony on bass and Bob Ebeling on drums. The band's first involvement was on the 1994 demo of "Dark & Gray" on his Bootleg Series Tapes, they would make three more appearances on the tapes in Watch Me Come, Only a Dog and Box #10. Trucker became both Rock's studio and live band in 1997.

Chris Peters was the studio guitarist for The Polyfuze Method and Fire It Up. Matt O'Brien (Bass) and Kenny Tudrick (Guitar, Drums) were studio musicians for Devil Without a Cause.

Kenny Olson went on to form numerous bands for more creative outlets. A Pack of Wolves, The Flask, Five Star Carni, The Motorfly's, and most recent (2010) 7 Day Binge. He has also made appearances on many other recordings such as the song "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" which can be found on the Les Paul & Friends CD as well as a version of "Little Wing" with Chaka Khan on "The Power of Soul: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix" among numerous others.

Tudrick is with the band Detroit Cobras, who he was with before touring on Kid Rock's 'Live' Trucker tour.

Percussionist Larry Frantangelo won a Detroit Music Award in 2009 for Outstanding Urban/Funk Musician.

;Current members

Jimmie "Bones" Trombley – keyboards, piano, organ, harmonica, backing vocals (1996–present)

Marlon Young – lead & rhythm guitar (1996–1997, 2007–present)

Jason Krause – rhythm & lead guitar (1997–present)

Stefanie Eulinberg – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1998–present)

Paradime – turntables, programming, keyboards (2002–present)

Aaron Julison – bass guitar, backing vocals (2003–present)

Shannon Curfman – backing vocal & guitar (2010–present)

''with:''

Larry Frantangelo – percussion (2007–present)

David McMurray – saxophone (2007–present)

Jessica Wagner;– backing vocals (2007–present)

Tyra Juliette -backing vocals (2007–present)

;Former members

Barbara Payton- backing vocals (2007–2009, on and off)

Stacy Michelle- backing vocals (2007–2009)

Kenny Olson – lead guitar (1994–2005)

Uncle Kracker – turntables (1994–2002)

Joe C – backing vocals (1994–2000)

Andy Gould – rhythm guitar (1994–1995)

George Metropolous – rhythm guitar (1994–1995)

Paul Anthony – bass (1994–1995)

Bob Ebeling – drums (1994–1995)

Bill Keros – drums (1995)

Eric Hogemeyer – drums (1995)

Jeff Hall – rhythm guitar (1995–1996)

Chris Zuccaro – drums (1995–1998)

Ray Echlin – bass (1996)

Lonnie Motley – bass (1996–1998)

Chris Lebroux – bongos (1997)

Thornetta Davis – backing vocals (1997–1998)

Mike Bradford – bass (1998–2001)

Misty Love – backing vocals (1998–2001)

Shirley Hayden – backing vocals (1998–2001)

Bobby East – bass (2001–2003)

Smith Curry – dobro (2004–2005)

Karen Newman – backing vocals (2004–2005)

Lauren Creamer – backing vocals (2004–2005)

Kenny Tudrick – lead guitar (2005–2006)

Personal life

Marriage to Pamela Anderson

In 2001 Kid Rock began dating actress Pamela Anderson, after the two met at a VH1 tribute to Aretha Franklin. By April 2002, he and Anderson were engaged, but the engagement was later called off. They later got married in a surprise wedding in July 2006 after it was reported Anderson was pregnant. They divorced five months later because Rock wanted to live in Detroit and Anderson wanted to stay in Los Angeles. It has been suggested that his no-show at the Download Festival 2008 was due to a broken heart.

Kid Rock has stated in numerous interviews that he is a lover of hunting and fishing. He has hunted with his good friend Hank Williams Jr. several times. When Rock and Pamela Anderson divorced, it was rumored that Rock's hunting passion was the cause of the relationship's end, Anderson being a keen animal rights activist.

Rock later claimed, however, that the divorce was due to Anderson openly criticizing his mother and sister in front of his son from a previous relationship, Robert Jr., which Rock took offense to. Rock has actively raised Robert Jr., born in 1993, as a single father since birth, and continues to live with him in Michigan. On July 6, 2011, Kid Rock appeared on CNN's ''Piers Morgan Tonight'' show where he said he has no regrets about anything he has done in the past. He declined to say whether his marriage to Pamela Anderson had taught him any lessons.

Legal troubles

Kid Rock has had multiple run-ins with law enforcement:

In March 1991 and September 1997, Kid Rock was arrested in Michigan for alcohol related incidents.

In February 2005, he was arrested on assault charges for punching DJ Jay Campos in 'Christies Cabaret' strip club. Rock pleaded no contest and was sued for $575,000 by Campos.

Kid Rock was cited for assault on Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee on September 9, 2007 at MTV's Video Music Awards, and pled guilty.

In October 2007, Kid Rock was involved in a brawl at a Waffle House in Atlanta and charged with simple battery. He pleaded nolo contendere ("no contest") to one count, was fined $1,000, required to perform 80 hours of community service and complete a 6-hour course on anger management.

Sex tape

Kid Rock and Scott Stapp, singer of the band Creed, appear in a sex tape from 1999 in which the two have sex with four groupies in a mobile home. California pornography company Red Light District planned to release the tape in 2006, but both Rock and Stapp filed with the California courts to sue Red Light District and stop the tape's distribution.

Activism

Kid Rock has been involved with many charitable organizations but his main support has gone to Operation Homefront. Kid Rock has frequently partnered with Jim Beam to make large donations to the organization. He is close friends with Tony Stewart as he helps with charity events, and Kid Rock narrated ''Tony Stewart: Smoke'', a documentary of Stewart's 2002 championship season. Kid Rock has performed for American service men and women in countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Kosovo, and has performed for U.S. servicemembers in Great Britain at R.A.F. bases such as RAF Lakenheath.

Discography

1990: ''Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast''

1993: ''The Polyfuze Method''

1996: ''Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp''

1998: ''Devil Without a Cause''

2000: ''The History of Rock''

2001: ''Cocky''

2003: ''Kid Rock''

2006: ''Live Trucker''

2007: ''Rock n Roll Jesus''

2010: ''Born Free''

Tours

1989: Straight From the Underground Tour (opened for Ice Cube, Too $hort, D Nice and Yo-Yo)

1998: Lollapalooza Tour

1998: Vans Warped Tour

1998–99: White Thrash on Dope Tour (with Monster Magnet and Hed PE)

1999: Destroy Your Liver Tour

1999: Limptropolis Tour (with Limp Bizkit and Staind)

1999: European Tour (with Blink-182)

1999: Between the Legs Tour (with Powerman 5000, Professional Murder Music)

1999-00: Millennium Tour (with Metallica, Sevendust and Creed)

2000: Summer Sanitarium Tour (with Metallica, Korn, System of a Down, Powerman 5000)

2000: The History of Rock Tour (with Dope)

2001: The American Bad Ass Tour (with Buckcherry, Fuel and David Allan Coe)

2002: The Cocky Tour (with Lit, Tenacious D and Saliva)

2002: Girls of Summer Tour (opening for Aerosmith with Run-D.M.C.)

2004: Rock n Roll Pain Train Tour (with Puddle of Mudd, Gov't Mule, Jerry Cantrell)

2005: Lazy Muthafuga Tour (only 6 concert dates)

2006: 'Live' Trucker Tour (with Ty Stone, Peter Frampton (opened in Auburn Hills, Michigan) and Whitestarr)

2007–2008: Rock n Roll Revival Tour (with Reverend Run, Dicky Betts, Duane Betts, Peter Wolf, Lynyrd Skynyrd, in a revue style)

2008: Rock n Roll Revival Tour: European Tour

2008: Rock n Rebels Tour (with Lynyrd Skynyrd and Backdoor Slam)

2008: European Tour (with Finger Eleven)

2008: All Summer Long Tour (4 nights at Pine Knob with Uncle Kracker & Rev Run)

2009: Rock n Rebels Tour II (with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights, Black Stone Cherry, Alice in Chains, Cypress Hill, Robert Randolph and the Family Band)

2010: The Circle Tour (opening for Bon Jovi)

2011: Ford field, Detroit Michigan 40th Birthday Bash-January

2011: Born Free Tour (with Sheryl Crow)

2011: (Fall) Care - Club Tour for charity

Filmography

''The Howard Stern Show'' (8 episodes, 1999–2008)

''Saturday Night Live'' (Musical Guest, 2000)

''The Simpsons'' (1 episode, 2000)

''WWF Raw is War'' (Musical Guest, 2000)

''Joe Dirt'' (2001)

''Osmosis Jones'' (Voice, 2001)

''Kid Rock: Lonely Road of Faith'' (2001)

''King of the Hill'' (2002)

''Punk'd'' (1 episode, 2003)

''Biker Boyz'' (2003)

''Stripperella'' (You Only Lick Twice, 2003)

''CMT Outlaws'' (2003)

''South Park'' (2004)

''CSI: NY'' (1 episode, 2005)

''Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector'' (2005)

''Motorcycle Mania 3'' (2005)

''Coors Light Mountain Jam'' (2005)

''Stacked'' (1 episode, 2002)

''The 2006 Billboard Music Awards'' (2006)

''VH1 Storytellers'' (2008)

''WrestleMania XXV'' (Musical Guest, 2009)

''2010 Spike Guy Choice Awards'' (Presenter, 2009)

''Top Gear (U.S. TV series)'' (1 episode, 2010)

''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' (1 episode, 2011)

''Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives'' (1 episode, 2011)

Awards and nominations

Grammy Awards

*2000 Best New Artist (Nominated)

*2000 Best Hard Rock Performance for "Bawitdaba" (Nominated)

*2001 Best Hard Rock Performance for "American Bad Ass" (Nominated)

*2009 Best Rock Album for ''Rock n Roll Jesus'' (Nominated)

*2009 Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "All Summer Long" (Nominated)

Academy of Country Music

*2003, Vocal Event of the Year: "Picture" (Nominated)

American Music Awards

*2008, Favorite Male Pop/Rock Artist (Nominated)

*2003, Favorite Male Pop/Rock Artist: (Winner)'''

*2003, Favorite Pop/Rock Album: ''Cocky'' (Nominated)

*2001, Favorite Male Pop/Rock Artist: (Winner)'''

*2000, Favorite Alternative Artist: (Nominated)

*2000, Favorite Pop/Rock New Artist: (Nominated)

Billboard Music Awards

*1999 Best New Artist (Winner)

*1999 Best Hard Rock Performance for "Bawitdaba" (Winner)

*1999 Best New Hard Rock Artist (Winner)

MTV Video Music Awards

*2001, Best Male Video: "Cowboy" (Nominated)

*2001, Best Rock Video: "Cowboy" (Nominated)

*2000, Best Male Video: "Bawitdaba" (Nominated)

*2000, Best New Artist: "Bawitdaba" (Nominated)

Teen Choice Awards

*2003, Choice Love Song: "Picture" (Nominated)

*2003 Choice Hookup Song: "Picture" (Nominated)

Detroit Music Awards

*1999

**Outstanding National Album for ''Devil Without a Cause'' (Winner)

**Outstanding National Single for "I Am the Bullgod" (Winner)

**Outstanding National Single for "Bawitdaba" (Nominee)

**Outstanding National Hip Hop Writer/Producer (Winner)

*2000

**Outstanding National Album for ''History of Rock'' (Nominee)

**Outstanding National Single for "American Bad Ass" (Winner)

**Outstanding National Single for "Cowboy" (Nominee)

**Outstanding National Duet for "Higher" with Robert Bradley (Winner)

**Outstanding National Spokesperson (Winner)

*2001

**Outstanding National Album for ''Cocky'' (Nominated)

**Outstanding National Single for "Forever" (Nominated)

*2003

**Outstanding National Single for "Picture" (Nominated)

*2004

**Outstanding National Album for Kid Rock (Nominated)

**Outstanding National Single for "Cold and Empty" (Nominated)

**Outstanding National Single for "Jackson, Mississippi" (Nominated)

*2006

**Outstanding National Album for ''Live Trucker'' (Nominated)

*2008

**Outstanding National Album for ''Rock n Roll Jesus'' (Winner)

**Outstanding National Single for "So Hott" (Nominated)

**Outstanding National Single for "Amen" (Nominated)

*2009

**Outstanding National Single for ''All Summer Long'' (Winner)

**Outstanding National Single for ''Roll On'' (Nominated)

MTV European Music Awards

*2008 Most Attictive Track for "All Summer Long" (Nominated)

BMI Songwriting Award

*2002 "Picture" (Winner)

CMT Music Awards

*2003 Choice Male Video for "Picture" (Nominated)

*2009 Video of The Year for "All Summer Long" (Nominated)

*2009 Wide Open Country Video of the Year for "All Summer Long" (Winner)

World Music Awards

*2008 Worlds Best Male Pop Artist (Winner)

*2008 Worlds Best Pop/Rock Artist (Winner)

People's Choice Awards

*2009 Best Rock Song for "All Summer Long" (Winner)

Kid's Choice Awards

*2009 Favorite Male Singer (Current Nominee)

Echo Award (Germany)

*2009 Hit Of The Year for "All Summer Long" (Winner)

Other ventures and honors

He has his own clothing line called Made in Detroit which he purchased from its creator, Detroit designer Robert Stanzler, in 2003. Stanzler, a longtime friend of Kid Rock, is mentioned by name in Rock's song "Early Mornin' Stoned Pimp". Wayne State University named a scholarship after Kid Rock for musicians. Kid Rock is using his clothing line to fund it. He was Grand Marshal of the Krewe of Endymion Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans on February 21, 2009 and was accompanied by The Chee-Weez, a local area cover band.

He released his own beer called Bad Ass Beer on July 17, 2009 released over the entire midwestern part of the U.S.

Kid Rock is a steadfast loyal supporter of the United States military. He gave proceeds of a concert to the families affected by the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000. He has quietly made numerous trips with the USO, and on his own, to play concerts for soldiers overseas in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait. He also made his album ''Born Free'' available to military members to download for free.

References

Sources

Christe, Ian (2003). ''Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal''. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-380-81127-8

External links

Kid Rock at Imeem.com

Kid Rock Interview on ''The Hour'' with George Stroumboulopoulos

UK Interview (11/8/2008)http://www.thrashhits.com/2008/08/kid-rock-%E2%80%9Ci-was-the-kid-with-the-vial-full-of-rocks%E2%80%A6%E2%80%9D/

Category:1971 births Category:American rock singers Category:American male singers Category:Atlantic Records artists Category:Living people Category:People from Macomb County, Michigan Category:Rap rock musicians Category:Rappers from Detroit, Michigan Category:World Music Awards winners

bg:Кид Рок cs:Kid Rock da:Kid Rock de:Kid Rock es:Kid Rock fa:کید راک fr:Kid Rock it:Kid Rock lv:Kid Rock nl:Kid Rock ja:キッド・ロック no:Kid Rock pl:Kid Rock pt:Kid Rock ru:Кид Рок simple:Kid Rock sk:Kid Rock fi:Kid Rock sv:Kid Rock th:คิด ร็อก tr:Kid Rock

name	John Harwood
birth place	Louisville, Kentucky
age	51
occupation	Journalist
family	father: Richard Harwood
ethnicity	Caucasian
url	http://www.cnbc.com/id/15838123/ }}

John Harwood (born 1956) is an American journalist who is the Chief Washington Correspondent for CNBC and a writer for The New York Times. He writes a weekly column entitled "The Caucus" that appears on Monday about Washington politics and policy. Before joining the Times, he wrote for The Wall Street Journal.

A 1978 ''magna cum laude'' graduate of Duke University, Harwood has also served as a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. He frequently appears on ''Washington Week'', a public affairs program on PBS hosted by Gwen Ifill, as well as NBC's Meet the Press, and MSNBC's Morning Joe.

Harwood's father, Richard Harwood, was a reporter and writer for The Washington Post. According to John Harwood's article in The Washington Post (April 30, 2000, page B4), Harwood's mother was an active campaigner for the presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 and Harwood, at age 11, appeared in a TV ad for Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 campaign.

Harwood, along with co-author Jerry Seib, were Tim Russert's guests in Russert's last taped interview of "Meet the Press" which was to air the weekend of June 14, 2008, just hours before Russert's death.

Harwood lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.

References

External links

John Harwood On Obama School Speech Reaction

http://www.q13fox.com/news/kcpq-030810-sexandthesenator,0,3177977.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Kcpq-Q13FoxNews+%28KCPQ+-+Q13+FOX+News%29

Category:American newspaper reporters and correspondents Category:American television reporters and correspondents Category:American broadcast news analysts Category:The Wall Street Journal people Category:Duke University alumni Category:People from Silver Spring, Maryland Category:1956 births Category:Living people Category:People from Louisville, Kentucky

pt:John Harwood

name	Ashleigh Banfield
birth date	December 29, 1967
birth place	Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
education	Queen’s University, 1988University of British Columbia, 1992
occupation	Television journalist
years active	1988–present
gender	Female
status	Married
title	Host: ''Hollywood Heat''
spouse	Howard Gould
children	Jay Fischer Gould (born 2005)Ridley Banfield Gould (born 2007)
url	http://www.ashleighbanfield.com }}

Ashleigh Banfield (born December 29, 1967 in Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a Canadian-American journalist who as of 2010 hosts ''Disorder in the Court'', ''Open Court'' and ''Hollywood Heat'' on Tru TV (formerly CourtTV), where she reports on domestic and pop culture issues. Prior to joining the network, Banfield worked for MSNBC and reported from numerous overseas locations, including the Middle East and Central Asia. She received several Emmy Awards for her body of journalistic work, and criticized media coverage of the conflict in Iraq in April 2003. She is also a law and justice correspondent on ''Good Morning America''.

Professional career

Canada

She began her career in 1988 at CJBN-TV in Kenora, Ontario, and at CKY-TV in Winnipeg later that year. From 1989 to 1992, she anchored the weekend news for CFRN-TV in Edmonton, and from 1992 until 1995, at CICT-TV in Calgary, where she won two Iris Awards.

During her tenure at CICT, Banfield worked as a freelance associate producer for ABC's ''World News Tonight''. She covered the 1991 Bush/Gorbachev Summit in Russia and the 1992 Clinton/Yeltsin Summit in Vancouver.

United States

In early 2000, Banfield was hired by MSNBC. According to the ''New York Times'', she "fit nicely with MSNBC's positioning as the news network of choice for younger viewers", and executives at the network "also liked her frosted blond hair and trademark Clark Kent-style glasses." Before joining the network, she worked at KDFW-TV in Dallas, where she won an Emmy Award. She also hosted ''MSNBC Investigates'', worked at NBC News, and became a host of ''HomePage'' along with Gina Gaston and Mika Brzezinski.

During the conflict in Afghanistan, Banfield interviewed Taliban prisoners, and visited a hospital in Kabul. Later entries covered her travels from Jalalabad to Kabul, as well as other experiences in Afghanistan. In Pakistan, she interviewed Father Gregory Rice, a Catholic priest in Pakistan, and an Iraqi woman aiding refugees. After ''A Region in Conflict,'' she received the 10pm timeslot with the show ''Ashleigh Banfield on Location''.

In April 2003, in a speech at Kansas State University, Banfield raised concerns regarding media coverage of the conflict in Iraq. She also spoke against "cable news operators who wrap themselves in the American flag and go after a certain target demographic", and specifically named Fox News Channel as an example. The ''New York Times'' reported that her speech angered NBC management, who rebuked her and lowered her profile.

}}

Banfield joined CourtTV (renamed TruTV) in 2005. She was the co-host of the trial coverage show ''Banfield & Ford: Courtside'' weekdays from 1 to 3PM ET with Jack Ford. She is the only non-lawyer among Court TV's anchors. She signed on to host celebrity gossip show "Hollywood Heat" in January 2007.

On June 1, 2009, Banfield took over as host of the truTV series ''Open Court'' weekdays from 9 to 11AM ET, formerly hosted by Lisa Bloom. Banfield regularly reported live on the Casey Anthony murder trial.

Education

Balmoral Hall School, 1985

Queen's University, BA (Political Science) 1988

University of British Columbia, 1992

Personal life

Banfield is married to businessman Howard Gould and they have two sons, Jay Fischer Gould (born 2005) and Ridley Banfield Gould (born 2007). They reside in New Canaan, Connecticut. She was also a backup singer for the band ''The Rusty River Rafters'' and member of a bar band. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen on October 24, 2008. She is a cigar aficionado and enjoys Cuban cigars.

References

External links

Official Website

Photo Gallery

Ashleigh Banfield's bio from TruTV

Category:1967 births Category:Living people Category:Canadian expatriate journalists in the United States Category:Canadian emigrants to the United States Category:People from Winnipeg Category:People from Dallas, Texas Category:Queen's University alumni Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:University of British Columbia alumni Category:Emmy Award winners Category:American television news anchors Category:Canadian television news anchors Category:Canadian women journalists