When is a summer camp not a camp, a work place not a place of work, adults are not responsible for children under their care, medical care doesn't have to be provided by licensed and vetted professionals, and a television production is not subject to laws governing filmmaking and television production? When you get into the shady world of "reality shows", and do your filming in a state two months before their laws that would shut you down are about to take effect. The latest huff is over CBS' "Kid Nation", (perhaps prophetically) originally titled, "The Manhattan Project."
I'm not big on reality shows. Won't watch 'em, actually. Well, except maybe for the Dog and Family Jewels. Not the same thing as what we're talking about here, though. Any show that says it "takes X number of ordinary people and... "
Bullshit.
That's right, I'm calling bullshit on the entire concept - and on "Kid Nation" in particular.
Reality shows were created to get around a writer's strike. "Participants" (those so-called ordinary people) or "contestants" are used to get around SAG and AFTRA rules and pay scales. Studio legal departments are used to get around the law. Glitter, hype and PR departments are apparently used to get around common sense. New Mexico was used to get around specific California and New York laws governing child labor. (NM does have laws that would have prevented the whole thing, but while passed earlier in the spring, they weren't scheduled to go into effect until after Kid Nation had completed filming there. NYT2)
The premise of "Kid Nation" is that you take 40 kids between 8 - 15, put them in a New Mexico ghost town for 40 days with no adults and no contact with their parents allowed, film them 24/7, and sit back to see what happens.
You won't soon hear any of the participants or parents complaining about the "Kid Nation" experience, or consequences. They were razzledazzled into signing a 22 page contract (obtained by the website Smoking Gun, through an open records request to the NM Attorney General's office,) that gives outrageous rights to the producers, and deprives these kids of any kind of self-determination, right of privacy, free speech, or escape from notoriety or humiliation, or sense of protection by government agencies. (In fact, the contract even specifically warns that government observers may pose a hazard to the children - see Section 10)
Parents of minors starring in "Kid Nation," the controversial new CBS reality show, signed away their rights to sue the network and the show's producers if their child died, was severely injured, or contracted a sexually transmitted disease during the program's taping. SG
But while such agreements might be standard for adult participants in a reality show, it also takes on a different tone when the minor and the parent are being held solely responsible for any "emotional distress, illness, sexually transmitted diseases, H.I.V. and pregnancy" that might occur if the child "chooses to enter into an intimate relationship of any nature with another participant or any other person." NYT1
Bullshit.
You can't sign over sexual activity for an eight year old. Just watch what happens to both the parents and the producers if just one of those kids turns up pregnant, raped, coerced, or diseased. Notice the disclaimer says "another participant or any other person. Huh?? Whatever happened to age of consent, and statutory rape? Hell, what happend to the concept of responsibility?
CBS believes they have retained the right to humiliate and mock these kids "in perpetuity".
CBS and the production companies, Good TV Inc. and Magic Molehill Productions, retained the rights to the children’s life stories "in perpetuity and throughout the universe." And that right includes the right to portray the children either accurately or with fictionalization "to achieve a humorous or satirical effect." NYT1
Bullshit.
Putting aside the irony of "Good TV", and thoughts of molehills being dark, dirty underground places, if those so-called lawyers at CBS' legal department haven't ever heard of the illegality of the Thousand Year Contract, there are plenty of lawyers and judges who have.
"Forty kids. One town. No adults." -CBS hype
Oh, except that now they say that's only what was on camera, and that there were plenty of adults around to insure their safety and well-being.
But in the last week, as the show came under scrutiny, CBS has been taking pains to assert that "Kid Nation" was, in fact, crawling with adults: child psychologists, pediatricians and paramedics, all of them closely watching over the children. NYT2
CBS claimed it was a summer camp in discussions with the parents, yet no camp permits were obtained, nor were required inspections conducted - in fact, NM inspectors were turned away - twice. (NYT4) They claimed it was a "working kid economy", yet also said no work was taking place there, so the kids were not subject to child labor laws. New Mexico law states that "frequent presence during school hours of a child under 16 "at a place where workers are at work more or less habitually shall be prima facie evidence" that the child is "unlawfully engaged in labor." They said it was a "voluntary television experience", yet the kids were contractually obligated to be available for filming 24/7. They said they would provide some medical services, yet the parents were required to carry their own health insurance.
Bullshit.
You can't have it both ways, as the NYT points out. You're either responsible for the kids, or you're not, and if you're not, then the parents are potentially on the line for child abuse, reckless endangerment, child abandonment, and... heck, let's throw pimping in there too for good measure, given the preceding sexual activity clause.
Interviews with some of the parents of the participants last week evoked few qualms about the scrutiny or stresses to which their children might be subjected. Tabitha, the mother of Taylor, a 10-year-old from Sylvester, Ga., who took part in the program, said she went over the contract "again and again" before signing it. (CBS did not allow parents to reveal their last names.) NYT1
You already know what I'm going to say here, don't you? That's right - Bullshit.
If Tabitha went over that contract "again and again", she'd have known that she was giving care of her 10 year old to people who were disclaiming any responsibility should anything (up to, and including death) occur. "My daughter does a lot of pageants," Tabitha said. "People may say she may only be 10 years old, but she was willing to take that chance. CBS did everything to inform us parents. I don’t feel like I was let down, misled or that it was exploitation." People may say she's only 10? She is only 10, and it's your job to protect her from the wolves, not hand her to them on a silver platter. She's willing to take the chance? A 10 year old wants to get away from mom for 40 days? Of course she does - she's a 10 year old girl! Let's see how that 10 year old feels when she's fifteen and sues your ass for signing away her rights "in perpetuity and throughout the universe." Hey, I hear there's a big market for child exploitation shows on the twin worlds of S and G in the Beta Theta Pro sector of Orion's Belt, not to mention a market for pretty blondes in Asia. Whaddya say mom, wanna sign Taylor up today?
If we absolutely must have reality shows, then let's go with Cynde's idea of making politicians live on a working poor salary of a thousand bucks a month, (hilarious entry on Her Majesty's Blog) or following slumlords as they live in their own buildings, mine owners toiling in their own mines, or Mr. Bush living in Baghdad. (I'm gonna copyright that one, and call it "Baghdad Bush: George of the Green Zone Jungle.)
I may not be a lawyer, or the expert on the entertainment business that Showtalk is (see her excellent entries on "Kid Nation" in Thinking Out Loud) to be able to speak about the law, or "the biz", but I do know a good rant when I see one lurking, and I know bullshit when I see it.
To all the parents out there that know "Kid Nation" is exploitation in the same way that OJ Simpson's If I Did It book was, I say, use the power of your forums, blogs and voices to call for a boycott of CBS' production and airing of this travesty.
To the media I say, keep on digging.
To New Mexico's Attorney General, Gary K. King, whose office has re-opened their investigation (NYT3) into this "Hollywood horrible" story, I say, "Hang 'Em High!"
I'm not sure I can legally say what I want to say to the parents who signed that contract and allowed their children to participate in "Kid Nation". Oh, wait, yes I can....
Bull. Shit.