The gloves are off in the arena of the use of children in ‘reality’ TV shows. The Learning Channel (TLC) has been under pressure about their use of minors in these shows for some time. There is increasing viewer concern about the perception that the children are being exploited. And in the opinion of many, they are. Advocacy groups have made repeated appeals that the use of children on these shows be reviewed due to the lack of regulation.

Ethical and moral issues aside what it comes down to is this. Reality show kids are not regarded by TLC, for the most part, as child actors. They are treated as 'participants' as they would if they were part of a documentary. As such they fall outside of child actor regulations and guidelines and do not get paid. Their parents however, do.

There are exceptions. If, like Octomom, the children live in California (or New York), they are subject to the states child labor laws which ensure that that the children are indeed designated as actors. As a result they receive payment, are protected by law, have oversight to ensure that they work safely and within confines that avoid exploitation or abuse.

On the show Jon & Kate plus 8 however, while the parents receive a reported $1.5 million each per season, the children don’t receive a dime. One would think that based on equitable distribution they – each member of the family - should each receive one tenth (the number of people in the house hold is ten) of the gross fee, which would be $300,000 per child and adult per season - $3 million divided by 10. Instead, because the children are not designated as actors and awarded the rights they should be, they receive nothing except what their parents decide to give them. How's that for exploitation?

The Fair Labor Standards Act (1938) set standards for child labor except in the case of child actors where an exemption was granted. The Act allowed individual states to set that standard. Each state therefore has its own regulations, often to the detriment of children, assuming they are recognized as actors to begin with. California and New York have the most comprehensive regulations to protect children and should be used as the baseline for child actor protection nationally.

To solve the problems surrounding the use of children in reality shows two things must happen right away. First, if a child is depicted in a show – reality or otherwise - they should be classified as child actors. Second, and as a direct result of their actor designation, they must be protected by regulations, not of the State in which the show is produced but by a new standard using the child labor laws of California or New York as a minimum guide.

The national child abuse prevention group Child AbuseWatch has been beating this drum on behalf of the plus 8 children over the Summer months. They have written to anyone who will listen to highlight the issue of protection of the children on TLC, using J&K+8 as an example. They have campaigned with emails across the country and recently called for an advertiser boycott of the Jon and Kate plus 8 show. One advertiser, Nestle USA, responded by informing Child AbuseWatch that they had pulled their ads from the show.

Today Child AbuseWatch upped the ante with a new campaign calling for advertisers to pull their ads from TLC completely. They have been asked to do this until such time as TLC either stops using minor children on their channel or designates all children they use on shows as child actors and accord them the rights that go with that. They also called, as they have done many times since June, for the immediate cancellation of the show Jon & Kate +8.

Writing to the top echelons of advertiser management Child AbuseWatch.net is confident of swift and decisive responses from these advertisers particularly with a tough holiday season ahead. “TLC has refused to acknowledge their irresponsibility in how they have handled the issue of children on their reality shows,” Child AbuseWatch’s Director, Evin Daly, said today. “Instead they have, in the case of J&K+8, decided to put lipstick on the pig in a concerted effort to save the show and maintain earnings through the end of the season, all at the expense of the children...again.”

Child AbuseWatch is a child advocacy group who have built a reputation of speaking out (loudly) wherever they see indications of child abuse or exploitation. TLC is one of the firms they have challenged as was Hewlett Packard who they successfully pressured last fall to remove a sound track from an ad which was written by and financially benefited a pedophile.

According to their website, Child AbuseWatch is an international child abuse prevention organization whose stated mission is ‘the protection of children from abuse.” They have three websites customized for world regions. Their websites are designed to education the public about abuse awareness and prevention, in addition to providing law enforcement and medical professionals with resources. They have a presence in the U.S., Canada, Europe, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. www.abusewatch.net

Reference

Access Child AbuseWatch's TLC file: http://www.abusewatch.net/CAN_TLC_JKFile.php

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