Dutch show kids public
A Dutch programme adopts reality TV format to raise awareness of organ donor shortage
With reality TV, we have seen ‘ordinary people’ cohabit in a camera-filled house where ‘privacy’ seemingly does not exist; bachelors have publicly sought prospective partners; contestants battled it out shipwrecked on an island and aspiring ‘stars’ have attempted to shine on talent shows. Yet, the latest programme has managed to not only break form traditional reality TV formats, but stir controversy unlike any show before.
This programme consisted of kidneys and donations. Already, this seems tricky and a highly personal and sensitive subject to adopt for a reality show. Yet it merely gets more complicated. The main participant was a 37-year-old terminally ill woman, known as Lisa. She selected , on the basis of “history, profile and conversation with her family and friends”, one of three contestants to receive her kidney once she dies. While she was to make the final decision, viewers were encouraged to send text messages saying who they believed should get the kidney. This was the format for the Dutch De Grote Donorshow (The Big Donor Show), recently broadcast in the Netherlands.
What Simon says
Amira Hashish talks to Guardian columnist and former editor of The Times Simon Jenkins
Simon Jenkins is no stranger to the hectic environment of a press office. He seems perfectly at ease in the newsroom in which we meet. Indeed, the former editor of The Times is as accustomed to such surroundings as the stereotypical Englishman is to the countryside. Jenkins started his career at Country Life magazine, then moved to the Times Educational Supplement and from there to the Evening Standard, before editing the Insight page of The Sunday Times.
He was editor of the London Evening Standard from 1976-78, and then political editor of The Economist magazine from 1979-86. After founding and editing The Sunday Times Books section, he was editor of The Times from 1990-92. In 2005, he announced he was leaving The Times and he joined The Guardian that summer after a break to write a book. He is currently promoting his latest book, Thatcher and Sons.
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