Reality Shows Violate Child Labor Laws

06.27.2010

In today’s paper, there’s an article about children in reality TV shows and whether or not production companies are violating child labor laws by taping them. Apparently CA and NY have the strictest standards (boy, I wonder why) but most reality shows are not shot outside of these states (hmmm…coincidence?) and the federal government leaves it to the States to monitor any child labor.

The producers are arguing that they don’t need to apply for any child labor permits because there’s no monetary exchange occurring. The filming is strictly documentary style; a means of observation.

Baloney.

The two reasons reality shows took off is because 1) we, the audience, are lazy and will pretty much watch anything that’s in front of us, and 2) producers can exploit a group of people and reap all the financial benefits. Yes, technically there may not be a monetary exchange occurring – in the beginning – BUT, these shows are scripted. This has been a fact since the first “Real World” came out on MTV and participants came out to complain that they were being portrayed wrong or that scenarios were taken out of context (all of which occurs in editing and at the producers’ discretion). Once a producer scripts a scene or “gently encourages” a situation to head in a particular direction…you are employing the person and certain laws must take effect. But because so many people are voraciously hungry for fame, they’ll pimp themselves out and their family members in order to be recognized at the local coffee shop.

I think my favorite, Kate Gosselin, is the prima donna of that. Except now she’s recognizable all over the place and continues to pimp herself out and her family because she won’t give up the fame. As a matter of fact, TLC has just applied for child permits for the upcoming season and, if I were a lawyer, I’d demand backpay for these kids. I believe that both Jon and Kate, individually, we’re receiving about $25K per episode. PER EPISODE! Soooo….how the hell does that not equate an employee-employer relationship?

I desperately wish that reality TV would go away even though I love Cake Boss. But I could live without it. We should leave the human observation to the trained anthropologists who spend years studying a culture. We viewers watch this trash on TV in order for us to feel better about our lives. It’s fun to watch people make asses out of themselves and then talk about them the next day around the water cooler. Hey, I’m not immune to that but I’ll also be the first to say that it’s stupid. I also do try to watch as little of the reality shows as possible. I think because of the cheap way in which it’s done, it destroys lives with a false promise of riches and I wish so much that we were a society that didn’t exist for the sole reason to get fame, fortune and riches.