So much for 'Family TV'
The Times, Monday, 12th January 2009 – 20:24CET
Children’s Commissioner slams candid camera programme
The Commissioner for Children has strongly criticised a candid camera programme involving children, broadcast on Family TV on January 4. Children were invited to the studio supposedly for a rehearsal and to sing a song. “Instead, these children found themselves insulted, mocked, and pushed around for the purposes of the prank while at the same time being filmed. The crew who were present in the studio made numerous (and successful) efforts to provoke the children to tears and anger, all in the name of entertainment,” the Commissioner said.
“This two-hour long programme included name-calling, yelling =at the children, and a staged fight aimed at drawing a reaction from the shocked children who were present. One young girl was even reduced to uncontrollable tears, whilst others remained shocked and unsure of what was happening. “It is absolutely disgraceful to witness such deterioration in the quality of TV programmes. Whilst children are capable of taking a joke, the content of this programme was tantamount to bullying. This is appalling not only in itself, but in the fact that the management of this station saw it fit to classify this as entertainment. Using children as the butt of humour in this way is deplorable and humiliating and should be unacceptable in a society which claims to love and respect its children.”
The Commissioner said she was urging audiences to show their disapproval by boycotting such programmes. She also urged broadcasting stations to invest in quality programmes.
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Who owns this bastion of family values?
[Daphne – http://www.independent.com.mt/news2.asp?artid=67246 ]
Had I been the parent of one of those kids, you can rest assured that the camera would have ended up very candid indeed. But today humans have been neutralised to mere spectators and debaters.
Does the commissioner for children have a name?
[Daphne – http://www.maltamedia.com/artman2/publish/govt_politics/article_829.shtml ]
If I am not mistaken Family Tv is owned by Karl and Romina Bonaci of “Bonaci Media Entertainment”.
[Daphne – No, it isn’t. http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=79281 ]
there is the family channel and the favorite channel.
adrian borg is mixing them up
@Adrian
You are referring to Favourite Channel. I think one of the owners is Andrew Farrugia who used to present a discussion profram on Smash TV some time ago.
Do you know if the parents were aware of what their children were going to be subjected to?
Francis: Andrew Farrugia justified this programme by saying that parents not only gave the producers permission to humiliate their children, but also gave them ‘tips’ on how to do so. That sort of reasoning would justify paedophiliac parents’ behaviour.
For goodness sake, we obviously have a toothless Broadcasting Authority. It is supposed to be there to uphold standards, amongst other things. Andrew Farrugia should stick to Smash programmes.