A while ago ARTE started a side channel and asked users how to name it, which we all know is a bad idea in the internet. The result was "Irgendwas mit ARTE und Kultur" ("something with ARTE and culture") and they really took the name: https://www.youtube.com/c/IrgendwasmitARTEundKultur Kudos to ARTE.
BTW. it's a cooperation between french and german public televisions, is there something similar elsewhere in the world?
As a French my definition of a documentary is what Arte produce.
I recently discovered what a documentary is for an American and it's night and day. American documentaries are entertainment package with actions and conspiracies. There's really not a lot of discovery and knowledge.
You don't know what documentaries are for Americans. You may have been exposed to some garbage (there's plenty out there produced all over the world) but it's just plain ignorant to assume the small sample you have seen is representative.
Can you explain how and why you think a documentary such as Ken Burns' Civil War series, a seminal example of American documentaries, is filled with action and conspiracies?
if you go to the "documentary" section on Netflix or another streaming service, there are dozens and dozens of really low-quality documentaries. Some are on conspiracy topics (UFOs, ancient aliens) or stupid and sensationalist. They all seem to treat the audience like they are not very smart.
I think most were produced on small budgets to run during the daytime on cable channels like History or Discovery, and then sold to Netflix as well.
These could definitely give someone a bad impression of what counts for documentary film in America, and in terms of raw numbers there are way more of them than anything else.
However, the documentaries produced for American public television (like those of Ken Burns) tend to be very good. And there are also high-quality American documentaries that go on the festival circuit.
And currently a great series on "The civil war" - "La guerre de secession" - "Der Amerikanische Bürgerkrieg", mostly for European watchers obviously. With plenty of photos and citations from the time and just enough commentary as necessary. Available in french and german. https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/040864-001-A/la-guerre-de-sece...
NHK World is a similar website and app for phones and TV, but for Japan (and occasionally other Asian countries). An immense variety of culture, tourism, history, and food content. I believe BBC and RT also have cultural documentaries (you can ignore their news content).
There is this short weekly broadcast on french and german cultures compared, with a light tone, that we never miss:
https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/RC-014034/karambolage/
Available in french and german languages.
Arte has some amazing German and French documentaries on YouTube. I believe they are not accessible everywhere, but if you have access, it's worth a look.
BTW. it's a cooperation between french and german public televisions, is there something similar elsewhere in the world?