Is There Any Dignity Today at the Colosseum?

 

The following article is excerpted from Inclusion Daily Express. Our contention at POTB is that all contestants on performance based television programming are not performatively value neutral like the people on a sing-along in your front parlor but are instead presented as gladiators. It is no surprise that in such environs both art and humanity are throttled.

 

S.K. 

 

Should TV Show Have Treated Susan Boyle Differently?
(The Telegraph)
June 1, 2009
LONDON, ENGLAND– [Excerpt] The makers of Britain’s Got Talent are facing a possible Ofcom inquiry into their handling of Susan Boyle after she was admitted to the Priory clinic amid fears for her mental health.

Producers only provided a counsellor for Boyle at the beginning of last week, despite the strains of the media spotlight mounting far earlier in the show.

The 48-year-old, who suffers from learning [intellectual] disabilities as a result of being starved of oxygen at birth, became an international sensation after her first audition was televised on April 11.

Matters came to a head after Boyle lost Saturday night’s final and was reported to have thrown water over a producer backstage. On Sunday, she was seen by a private GP at her hotel before being taken by ambulance to the north London clinic, suffering from “emotional exhaustion”.

Ofcom, the media watchdog, has received a number of complaints about Boyle’s participation in the show. John Whittingdale MP, chairman of the Commons culture, media and sport committee, said the programme-makers had questions to answer about their duty of care to such a vulnerable contestant.

Entire article:
Susan Boyle: Makers of Britain’s Got Talent facing questions over her care
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/2009/red/0601f.htm
Related:
Opinion: Susan Boyle Should be Given Accommodation for Her Disabilities (Digital Journal)
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/273343
The media can’t diagnose Susan Boyle – and we shouldn’t try (The Guardian)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/2009/red/0601h.htm
Susan Boyle fairy tale sours as she enters clinic (Associated Press)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/2009/red/0601g.htm