Okaz newspaper

ONE of the worst things I have ever seen was a Saudi reality show TV producer telling one of the participants in a live program that his father was dead. The TV show crew was trying to get the reaction of the participant after he heard the news of his father’s death to add it to the suspense of the show. It turned out that it was not a wise move by the producer.

The overwhelming reaction on social media against what happened was extreme anger. The credibility of the TV show dropped sharply to reach the ground. In an attempt to recover what can be recovered, the management of the TV channel apologized and suspended the producer and announced punishment after investigation. The apology was not enough. Once the glass is broken, it can never get back to its original shape.

The show was taking advantage of the emotions of the participant to increase its viewership. Suddenly the emotions of people became a product that can be bought and sold. What is sad in this case is that they are trying to copy the culture of reality TV show in the West, where emotion is a product that can be taken advantage of in order to increase the number of viewership. People in the past were the first to provide aid to people if there is, God forbid, an accident or an incident in a public place. Unlike now, people rush to turn on their mobile cameras to turn that scene in a drama TV show.