"I WON'T LET YOU SELL YOUR BODY," "PREGNANT BAD GIRLS" and "GUESS WHAT... I'M A MAN"--these are just a few "exemplary" themes found in The Jerry Springer Show, one of the most controversial and criticized television programmes in America, in which the audience witness the eye-catching fights and hear the "ear-catching" beeping sound which is a fine substitute for foul language. From my point of view, the talk show should not aim at entertaining television audience, exploiting the guests and discussing serious and controversial issues insensibly and inappropriately.
First, it is improper to use the discussion of controversial issues as a means of entertainment. The Jerry Springer Show talks about Ku Klux Klan members, transsexuals, strippers, premarital and extramarital relationships and other controversial phenomena. What the Jerry Springer Show does is to let all the guests express their feelings using abusive language and acts. In James Collins's article "Talking Trash" of the Time magazine, it writes,"Springer says the show is 'silly' and 'outrageous' and a 'cultural cartoon' and so shouldn't be taken too seriously." Springer showed the same kind of no-big-deal attitude in other magazine articles, including Joe Schlosser's article from Broadcasting & Cable and Jim Impoco's article "Trash TV gets the message--sort of" from U.S. News and World Report. Unfortunately, what The Jerry Springer Show presents is not a form of entertainment, but vulgarity.
Secondly, the guests are exploited by The Jerry Springer Show, as a means of entertainment rather than human beings who have dignity. The talk show is really disrespectful to its guests by presenting a shallow discussion that solves no problems and helps no one. In the opposite, it subjects its guests to the audience's immediate humiliation, irrational criticism and emotional molestation. Under such unstable and provocative atmosphere that is created by the surprise-oriented talk show, the host easily disorients the guests, even the audience. The guests are induced to reveal their private matters and personal problems, leading to more surprises. Collins also writes that "Springer says that... it is unlikely that someone who is vulnerable will appear" and "Richard Dominick, Springer's executive producer, says the show protects the guests by giving them a standard list of twenty-five secrets that could be revealed." Though the guests themselves may not be vulnerable people, they are definitely put into a vulnerable, inferior and exploitative position on the show. Imagine, you are now on a national television talk show, and in front of you is a large crowd of non-supportive audience to whom you are just an object of ridicule and contempt, as Collins's article says. What do you think your speech and behaviour will be like? Also, the list of secrets that could be revealed is merely a piece of general information that does not help the guests a lot. People will still be overwhelmed by the appalling facts that are going to be revealed.
Last but not least, continual production of this kind of talk shows leads to two potential risks. The first one is the deterioration of the quality of television programmes, which will surely undermine the audience. The second one is the deterioration of social norm, ethical and moral standard. According to Nielson ratings, one million children watch the Jerry Springer Show each week. Impoco writes,"[former] Education Secretary William Bennett, Senator Joseph Lieberman and others have decried trash TV as a form of cultural pollution and consider The Jerry Springer Show to be one of the more toxic smokestacks." Besides, I believe that the talk show has a negative influence on the young audience, since it consists of quite a lot of fights and insults and shows no seriousness. Springer says to Schlosser,"[there] is no seriousness to it." The show merely exposes the dark side of human relationships and human weaknesses. Even the guests are sometimes dehumanized by the narrow and biased views of the host and the audience, which are often contradicting and misleading. Though the talk show says that its objective is to provide pure entertainment, the show ends with a several minutes long conclusion segment called "The Final Thoughts" in which the host gives superficial comments and opinions. Furthermore, we must consider whether the young audience can distinguish between true and fake, right and wrong.
To conclude, the current objective and presentation method of The Jerry Springer Show are socially irresponsible. I am sure that there are other bad examples of television talk shows that do not intend to improve their quality. The best things we can do are to boycott watching them and to educate our next generation to maintain their own critical and independent thinking while they are watching these talk shows.
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