Coming soon: Guidelines for
children on reality TV shows
In
June 2008, a participant of a Bengali reality dance show was
allegedly ridiculed and humiliated by the judges of the show.
Shinjini Sengupta, the sixteen year old participant, who
thereafter, lost her speech and suffered partial paralysis due
to depression, is now recovering at National Institute of Mental
Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore. Following the
incident, Union Women and Child Development (“WCD”)
Minister, Renuka Chowdhury had responded by declaring that
regulations are being planned to address this problem. She had
promised that the working condition of child artists of TV
serials and reality shows would now be closely scrutinized by
the government to ensure that youngsters are not subjected to a
“new type of child labour”.
The
WCD Ministry had decided to look into the working conditions of
child artists and asked the National Commission for Protection
of Child Rights ("NCPCR”) to set up the
Committee and issue guidelines to prescribe the conditions under
which children should work.
Last week, the NCPCR finally disclosed the possible contents of
the proposed guidelines in order to initiate public discussion
from all sections of society on the same. The guidelines are
expected to be finalised by the last week of October 2008, after
which all broadcasters shall be expected to follow them.
The
proposed guidelines were declared after discussions with
producers of a production house named Sanskriti, school
principals, child psychologists and NGOs.
The
guidelines propose the following:
-
The minimum age of a child participant to be
12 years.
-
The environment on sets of reality shows must
be child friendly. (Spokesperson and member of the NCPCR,
Sandhya Bajaj opined that sets “should be a playground for
the child participants.”)
-
The presence of a child psychologist on the
sets during the shootings will be mandatory.
-
Doctors and counselors should be present at
all times on the sets to deal with emergencies.
-
The onus of the child participant's well
being has been put on the parents. They will be required to
fill in a form with detailed medical conditions of the child
before entering into a contract with the reality show
management.
-
The children will not be given prize money
directly. Instead, the amount should be put in fixed
deposits that can be used later according to their needs.
(The Coogan Act, 1938 of California, USA had pioneered
mandating this practice, that was later adopted by
legislations in other countries as well.)
-
Proper lighting to be used on the sets. Heavy
lights will not be permitted.
-
The judges’ comments must not be such that
they affect the psyche of the child or his/her parent. The
Union WCD Minister had in June suggested drafting a code of
conduct for the show judges.
Conclusion:
Some issues that also need to be addressed to include:
regulation of the hire contracts by an authority, ceiling on
working days/week and days/ year, education on the sets where
shooting is for long duration, health and nutrition, minimum
standards for safety measures on the sets. Further, if the
parents have been made responsible for the child’s well being,
the presence of atleast one parent/guardian on the sets is a
reasonable requirement. Many countries including USA, UK, Canada
and Australia have full-fledged legislations in place, the first
among these being the Coogan Act, 1938 of California. The
proposed guidelines of the NCPCR are a positive step towards the
much awaited regulation of child participation in the booming
entertainment industry.
Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7622847.stm
http://in.news.yahoo.com/48/20080919/814/tnl-child-rights-body-sets-guidelines-fo.html
