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[edit] The Non-Reality of Reality TV

As a result of today’s societal trends and our current political situation reality television, the news and episodic reality programs, have become increasingly deceiving and fake. Deception in today’s television comes from a number of sources and in a number of varieties.

Reality television as a genre has become increasingly popular over the last decade. Every season new reality television shows are introduced to anxious audiences. The rise is the popularity of reality television since 2000 is somewhat of a television phenomenon. Many believe its popularity is because of a voyeuristic desire humans have, interest in extreme programming and an expansion in the quantity of television programming available to viewers.

Frank Farley, past president of the American Psychological Association, who now teaches at Temple University views the increased popularity in reality television as a result of viewers’ desires for programming that strays from traditional television. Farley says, “I believe it’s most influenced by the dramatic expansion of TV and the consequent inclusion of more extreme programming, as in Jerry Springer, Jenny Jones, et al. These shows relentlessly expose private life -- emotions, feelings, attitudes, beliefs, etc., before a national audience. The advent of magazines that focus on personal life, such as "People," "US," "Celebrity Focus," etc. has been influential. The tabloids, and tabloid TV, also are influential.” Robert Thompson, head of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University concurs, but also figures a changing society as a catalyst. Thompson argues “that a voyeuristic tendency is deep in the human heart…The big difference is that now so many cultural and social situations have lined up that allow us to indulge this tendency. A highly competitive television market… a relaxed attitude about content limitations on TV…and the natural affinity of television and voyeurism have all helped to make…a ripe environment for these kinds of shows.” (Reality TV, 2000)

As reality television increases in popularity and remains as one of the television’s most watched genres, the producers of reality television are searching for creative new ways of keeping their audiences pleased. As a result of the desire to satisfied, producers are coming up with new shows that feature more extreme content to ensure their audiences do not become bored. As attention spans decrease and the amount of television programming increases it is understandable that there is such pressure to develop new programming.

I argue that as a result of increased demand for new, extreme programming and a rise in the amount of television programming available, producers of reality television programs are using deception and lies as a way to appeal to audiences. FOX’s Joe Millionaire and The O’Reilly Factor are prime examples of the new lows reality television has reached.

The concept of Joe Millionaire is simple. An average guy, making $19,000 a year as a construction worker, is cast to portray a wealthy man who has inherited $50 million and is trying to find a suitor. What the twenty gold-digging female contestants, vying for his affection, do not know is that he, Evan Marriott, is not wealthy at all.

The O’Reilly factor is a talk show on the FOX News Channel hosted by commentator Bill O’Reilly who addresses current social and political stories. Joe Millionaire and The O’Reilly Factor are seemingly different shows, but follow many of the same trends and strategies of deception.

There are many strategies television shows use to deceive their audiences. One of the main strategies show creators use to produce the desired results is editing. Editing allows taped material to be arranged in any sequence in an attempt to make things appear they occurred in any particular way. In a 2006 Time Magazine article titled How Reality TV Fakes It James Poniewozik writes about this exact strategy. Poniewozik writes, “The heart of one of their female participants did not want what they needed it to want. She disliked one of her suitors, but it would make a better story if she liked him. So they sat her down for an interview. Who's your favorite celebrity?...She replied that she really loved Adam Sandler… in the editing room, they spliced out Sandler's name and dropped in audio of her saying the male contestant's name. That's love, reality-style. This trick, says Todd Sharp, who was a program consultant on the series, is called Frankenbiting.”(How Reality TV Fakes It)

The concept of Frankenbititng was no mystery to the producers of Joe Millionaire either. In fact, to reality television junkies, Joe Millionaire is the source of one of the most famous occurrences of Frankenbiting in all of reality television. The famed episode features Evan and one of his suitors, Sarah, embarking on their first date. The duo are shown riding bikes to a secluded country farmhouse where they begin enjoying wine and good conversation. As the date progresses the two become increasingly closer and soon involve themselves in conversation about Evan’s new found wealth. Once back at the chateau, where the majority of the show takes place, Evan and Sarah sneak off to the privacy of nearby woods, where the true deception takes place.

The show paints a picture of two teenagers escaping to the woods to mess around. While cameras did not show what exactly was going on in the woods, Evan and Sarah’s voices were still being recorded. This provided the editors the perfect opportunity to make something out of nothing. The editors used Frankenbiting to insinuate that Sarah was performing oral sex on Evan.

In a post-Joe Millionaire interview Evan says the show was “staged” and “totally fake.” Evan said his decision-making “was all staged,” and says the making out/blow job in the woods was “totally fake.”(Dehnart, 2004) In an online article titled “Evan says Joe Millionaire was “fake” and “staged”; FOX used sound effects.,” Andy Dehnart writes, “Fox Entertainment President Gail Berman…admits that they did indeed add sound effects to the woods scene: ‘We put in the [smooching] sound effects. You have to produce a show well. You do editing. You cut things around. But we don’t say, ‘Go out and make out in the woods.’ I would have to argue that point with him.’” (Dehnart, 2004)

Although that was one of the most blatant examples of Frankenbiting on Joe Millionaire, the deception does not stop there. From the onset the entire show is based on deception. Not only does reality television deceive its audiences, but also its participants. The twenty girls who are brought to be on the show are appearing under false pretenses. They believe the man they are competing for is someone who he is no. There are questions about the morality and ethics surrounding shows that use these tactics.

Many people take the information they receive from television news sources as the truth. To the educated viewer many of these shows are misleading and deceptive. The news intentionally deceives its audiences in a number of ways.

One show in particular that has repeatedly displayed deception, misinformation and the framing of stories is FOX’s The O’Reilly Factor. The O’Reilly Factor, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s brain child News Corp., is notoriously biased in favor of the political right’s political views. In Seth Ackerman’s article The Most Biased Name in News, he compares political parties to sports teams and television outlets as the referees. He argues that the political parties try to win the support of the television networks much like sports teams try to with the favor of the referees. Ackerman the goes on to say, “When it comes to Fox News Channel, conservatives don't feel the need to "work the ref." The ref is already on their side. Since its 1996 launch, Fox has become a central hub of the conservative movement's well-oiled media machine.” Although Rupert Murdoch has been quoted saying, “I challenge anybody to show me an example of bias in Fox News Channel.”(Ackerman, 2001) FOX’s conservative affiliation has become increasingly obvious since its launch in 1996.

The political situation of the country has always been a contributing factor to the deception in the media. Since the invasion of Iraq in 2003 there have been increased chances and opportunities for the media to deceive. With any war comes backlash and opposition.

The O’Reilly Factor is no exception when it comes to misinformation regarding the War in Iraq. Since host Bill O’Reilly is a staunch supporter of the Republican Party there have been numerous instances where he has said or spun the news to favor the Republican Party. After analyzing six months worth of Bill O’Reilly’s “Talking Points Memo” editorials, from his television show, Indiana University researchers found that he used numerous propaganda devices. The seven propaganda techniques include name-calling, glittering generalities, card stacking, bandwagon, plain folks, transfer and testimonials. The researchers found that O’Reilly called his guest’s names an average of nine times a minute and that the majority of his guests were from the political left. (Keep the Sticks and Stones Away From O'Reilly) By slandering his guests Bill O’Reilly discredits their often valid points. Viewers of his show are not given a good representation of what is really going when people with views opposite O’Reilly’s are always discredited. In the lead up to the war Bill O’Reilly featured numerous guests who supported going to war with Iraq, which was the plan of the Republican administration. One guest, retired general Paul Vallely, told O’Reilly the he had evidence that Saddam had smuggled weapons of mass destruction out of Iraq and into Syria. He then went as far to say that he also had evidence that France provided Saddam with passports to help him escape the country. Months after the airing of this episode of The O’Reilly Factor Saddam Hussein was captured in Iraq and as of today no weapons of mass destruction have been found. The impact of the preference Bill O’Reilly gives to his conservative supporting guests is deceptive. The public watch news programs to be informed and when they are inundated with false information they form false conclusions and opinions. In the wake of the fall of Baghdad, the University of Maryland found that 34 percent of Americans believed weapons of mass destruction had been found. This statistic represents the impact that faulty news broadcasts have on public opinion. (Stauber, 2006) The deception on today’s television is not limited to shows like Joe Millionaire and The O’Reilly Factor, but these two highlight many of the techniques used to misinform and deceive audiences. It seems that today’s political climate and the society we live in have allowed for television to become increasingly misleading.

Bibliography Ackerman, S. (2001, July/August). The Most Biased Name in News. Retrieved December 13, 2007, from

    http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1067

Dehnart, A. (2004, January 27). Evan says Joe Millionaire was “fake” and “staged”; FOX used sound effects. Message posted to http://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/archives/joe_millionaire/

    2004_Jan_27_evan_says_joe_millionaire 

How Reality TV Fakes It. (2006, January 29). Retrieved December 13, 2007, from Time.com database:

    http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1154194,00.html 

Keep the Sticks and Stones Away From O'Reilly. (2007, May 3). Retrieved December 13, 2007, from

    http://www.prwatch.org/node/6015

Poniewozik, J. (2006, Jan. 29). How Reality TV Fakes It. Time Magazine. Retrieved November 11, 2007, from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1154194,00.html

Reality TV. (2000, July/August). Online NewsHour Forum. Retrieved December 10, 2007, from

    http://www.pbs.org/newshour/forum/july00/reality.html 

Stauber, J. (2006, August 8). Half of Americans Still Believe In WMDs - They Saw Them on TV. Message

    posted to http://www.prwatch.org/node/5067