The Lessons of <i>Counterpoint</i>

The writings of the German scholar Wolfgang Ernst have become increasingly influential within media archaeology in recent years. His work adopts a strongly techno-centric approach and identifies archives as important study centres. Paradoxically, practical archival evidence is sometimes lackin...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Griffin, Ken
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision 2015-09-01
Series:VIEW Journal of European Television History and Culture
Online Access:https://www.viewjournal.eu/article/10.18146/2213-0969.2015.jethc078/
Description
Summary:The writings of the German scholar Wolfgang Ernst have become increasingly influential within media archaeology in recent years. His work adopts a strongly techno-centric approach and identifies archives as important study centres. Paradoxically, practical archival evidence is sometimes lacking within Ernst’s output. This paper uses evidence from a recent television archive project to examine aspects of Ernst’s approach. This exercise sought to uncover source material relating to a Northern Irish current affairs series, Counterpoint (1978-96), which had been badly affected by videotape wiping. Its methodology utilised a strongly materialistic approach to successfully recover ‘lost’ archival artefacts.
ISSN:2213-0969