Ethics Newsline®

NEW YORK
Reality TV poses ethics problems when it gets too real, according to a report last week from the New York Times.

The report looks at the moral dilemmas facing reality-TV producers, such as those behind a recent episode of the program “Intervention,” in which a camera crew acknowledged that their subject, an alcoholic, had too much to drink but allowed her to get into her car and followed her, taping the scene as she tried to keep her car between the lines.

The Times notes that reality shows documenting the travails of unstable subjects or situations have become ratings hits, but are problematic for television networks.

“There have been several lawsuits related to shows like ‘Big Brother,’ and more recently, CBS found itself facing accusations that it had created dangerous working conditions for children in its reality program ‘Kid Nation,’ in which children aged 8 to 15 toiled in the New Mexico desert to build a working society on their own,” notes the report.

“In the case of reality-TV documentary shows like ‘Intervention’ and the various incarnations of ‘The Real World’ and ‘Road Rules’ on MTV, producers can be witnesses to crimes, raising the question of when they are obligated to step out from behind the camera and intervene,” it adds.

The Times notes that under the law, producers are treated like witnesses, bearing no responsibility to intervene. In order to sue for negligence, the producers would have to create a situation that put a subject in jeopardy, not merely chronicle related events, say legal experts interviewed by the Times.