UK: Reality TV

Reality television worries me. Anyone who’s seen Big Brother or Survivor will know what I mean – and just how badly people can behave when in front of a live tv camera broadcasting to millions of viewers. The film EdTV satirised the dark side of reality tv, but it was touching as well as entertaining. Sadly, not the same can be said of the real-life real tv coming with increasing frequency and diversity direct into our homes. Competition is tough – just who will be able to bring the most base and tasteless offering to your tv screen? The latest recipe is Temptation Island: take several happy couples, fly them to a tropical paradise, split them up and subject each to a parade of promiscuous people making overt sexual advances. Too much to endure? Well, of course, that’s the idea.

So what are the legal implications? Is this OK legally? The short answer is yes, so long as the participants are over age, and consent to appear on the programme. The participants must surely know what they’re letting themselves in for. There has been some speculation that claims could be brought by disgruntled participants for unfair treatment by the programme-makers. The Broadcasting Standards Commission and Independent Television Commission Codes both require programme-makers to deal fairly with contributors and to preserve, so far as possible, the dignity of the individual. Precisely what is meant by "so far as possible" has not yet been tested, and may well let reality programme-makers off the hook. The Codes both also state that the audience should not be made to feel mere voyeurs of others’ stress. This is more difficult to reconcile with reality tv programmes – isn’t that the whole purpose and intent of the genre? I would be surprised to see any such complaint upheld, except in the most extreme circumstances.

Although seemingly legally sound, whether or not these programmes are OK morally is another issue. In the words of Robbie Williams: "Oprah Winfrey, Ricky Lake, tell me things that I don’t need to know…..". A recent survey conducted by Mori and Vox Pops International found that reality tv is playing a major part in young people’s lives. 61% of 15-24 year olds asked felt reality tv programmes, like Big Brother and Survivor, help teach them about the ways in which people interact with each other. The survey confirmed that young people are learning about and being shocked by the human behaviour shown. I agree with Annabelle Phillips, Head of Youth Research at MORI, that reality tv programme makers have a responsibility to young adults when making these shows.

Is reality tv real entertainment? There’s no doubt it’s addictive television, but the programmes’ attraction is on a par with that of the motorway pile-up – we just can’t resist watching out of morbid curiosity, though we know we shouldn’t. Still, the wide appeal of these programmes can’t be denied – Survivor and Big Brother attract huge audiences, and their popularity ensured that both programmes won television awards this year.

Reality tv is something of a gift to the television industry – a whole new genre of cheap television. It’s much less expensive for tv companies to acquire formats than to spend the time and money necessary to create an original production. Ideas can be cheaply acquired and, unless the creator develops his concept sufficiently, do not attract copyright protection.

Against that background, it is clear is that reality tv is here to stay unless and until a successful complaint is upheld.