http://www.sunderland.ac.uk/caffairs/201mar8.htm

"Reality TV could damage society"

Our fascination with humiliation television shows like Big Brother and Jerry Springer could be dangerous for society, a new book by a University of Sunderland criminologist has revealed.

Mike Presdee, reader in the University's sociology and social policy department, believes humiliation, cruelty and violence have become commodities which are being exploited by the media.

His new book, Cultural Criminology and the Carnival of Crime, claims moving away from entertainment through fiction in favour of "reality TV" could be damaging to society. He says people on programmes like Big Brother and American talk shows Jenny Jones and Jerry Springer are being humiliated for the sake of entertainment.

The dangers of doing that, he says, have been all too evident in America, where two people who appeared on different talk shows were later murdered.

He said: "We are moving much more towards reality TV and humiliation TV. No longer do we have fiction - we have the real thing and it seems to excite us more.

"We are being told that these things are not right, and that society should not put people down, but it is being done on TV and people are enjoying it. Maybe because it's an escape valve in a society with immense pressure, where we have more rules and regulations than we have ever had.

"The media know they can sell hurt and humiliation, showing programmes like Big Brother, Jerry Springer and Jenny Jones, but we must not humiliate people - it's not right. It's quite remarkable that adults are creating these programmes for fun."

The book also looks at other areas of contention within society, such as the living out of carnival desires on the streets through joyriding, street crime, anti-social behaviour, and in private on the Internet. It also examines the popularisation and criminalisation of dance music cultures and the criminalisation of art, as in the Saatchi Art gallery police raid.

• Cultural Criminology and the Carnival of Crime, published by Routledge, London and New York, costs £16.99.
• Mike Presdee is available for interview and can be contacted through Steve Heywood or Alison Steel in the University press office on 0191 515 2691/2099.