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The world has gone insane!

Martin

Martin

Active Member
From the New York Post

By CHRISTENE BARBERICH

Jessica, 16, will choose new parents for her son on Friday's "20/20" with Barbara Walters.

April 28, 2004 -- A giant-sized controversy is brewing over a baby adoption special on "20/20" - and sending ABC execs into a tailspin. Millions of viewers across the country watched in surprise over the weekend as the network aired a sensational promo for Friday's segment, which pits five desperate couples against each other for the privilege of adopting a 16-year-old's baby.

A very personal, intimate process was made to look like a reality-show contest, with prospective parents dubbed "winners" and "losers."

Yesterday, complaints flooded into radio stations, Web sites and even the FCC - many of them noting that host Barbara Walters is not only a respected journalist, but also an adoptive mother.

"I've already sent my outrage to [the producer of "20/20"] making a reality show out of something so personal," wrote one user on the Web site eeadopt.com.

"While I haven't seen the show, it definitely sounds like the marketing department at ABC was attempting to add a reality TV spin, which is definitely an all-time low - especially when children are at stake," says radio journalist Jane Braverman, who's adopting a child.

"My friend's teenage son, who was passing through the living room when the promotion was airing, even found it offensive. He said, 'How could a child be a prize in a reality show?'"

The program, titled "Be My Baby," set to air Friday during May sweeps, follows five couples through open adoption, which means the adoptive parents and birth mother are in contact, identities are disclosed and there is the potential for contact in the future.

The birth mother, 16-year-old Jessica, is shown in interviews with the prospective parents and in childbirth.

Jennifer Marando, co-director of A Child's Waiting adoption agency in Akron, Ohio, which participated in the show, says she and her sister and co-director, Crissy Kolarik, were completely disheartened by the teasers.

"We didn't go into this to outrage anyone," she says.

"We chose to participate in order to educate people on open adoption. But it's not an educational piece at this point - it's an entertainment piece made into a reality-show theme."

Marando confirms A Child's Waiting has received a number of complaints from distressed viewers.

For its part, ABC said it intended "Be My Baby" to be a realistic look at open adoption in America.

Amid the fury, ABC has since yanked the promo and replaced it with a toned-down version that presents the program less as a reality show and more as a documentary.

Jeffrey Schneider, head of ABC publicity, blamed the controversy on the misleading promotional spots.

"Clearly, the first promo that ran was leaving people with the wrong impression of what this hour is all about," said Schneider.

"It is a thoughtful report on the process of open adoption that we think will be of interest to the American people. We simply wanted to make sure that people understood what we would be broadcasting."

Marando hopes the positive aspects of her agency's work don't get lost amid the uproar.

"The producers shot a follow-up at the baptism," she said, "then again six months later to show that open adoption can be successful."
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Here's the article: click

Cheers, Martin :(
 
You dont think a reality show pitting five couples against each other to try and adopt a baby is a bit morally wrong!! :confused:

Im all for adoption, but do they really have to make a reality show out of it?!

Phil
 
Hey, I was agreeing with you, mister!!

I said "Isn't it?!" in a "You are absolutely right, isn't that a disgusting thing to do?!" - kind of way!

Cheers, martin :cool:
 
Sounds like it wasn't actually a reality show, they just made it look that way in the ads. :rolleyes: This is why I don't watch TV anymore.
 
Not accepted!

Wanna take this outside, little man?

Nah, kidding! No problem.

Cheers, Martin :cool:
 
Yeah, not really a reality show...stupid, but not a reality show. TV people will lie about anything just to get ratings.
 
Heard about it on the news in Danish Radio this morning...

How sick is that? :eek: Aren't there any authorities who can stop that?

Hobitten
 
Martin said:
Ha! It's America were talking about, remember?

Cheers, Martin :cool:
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Oh, all right! I forgot. :rolleyes:

Hobitten

By the way. Colin Powell was in Copenhagen yesterday, on a brief 7 hour courtesy visit. I was there, visiting with a group of Danish and Finnish high school kids. We were going to show them the sights. Colin Powell made that very difficult. We couldn't get anywhere near the royal palace or the parliament. The city was cramped with police, divers in the canals, helicopters hovering over our heads. Not to mention the trafic jam, because the inner city was closed for trafic.

I wonder if anybody ever tells these VIP's how much disruption such a small visit can cause in ordinary people's lives. :mad:
 
Ummm it was a joke?

Bobby, you take life to serious. I was once like you. Spitting fire and thinking, why is the world so damn stupid! Why is everybody so damn stupid??? Why don't they just STOP and think instead of following all thease stupid petty rules. Why don't they stop acting like robots and saying the same old things and doing the same old things. Why don't people open and expand their minds. Then... I mellowed out and stopped taking the world so serious AND, more importantly, myself. I still think those things.

For the the record, I hold no allegiance to any country, including this one. It's a just a bit of dirt with people on it bound together by a system of laws. Bound together because people need to be a part of something. Right down from family, to football club and up to country. People are scared to be alone. People are scared think for themselfs. People are scared of things that are different. Yes Bobby, I KNOW all of that. Try and relax huh? :D Not everybody is a mindless uneducated drone and you should not assume that they are.

Regards
SillyWabbit
 
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