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The Big Donor Show
Jun. 2nd, 2007 10:29 pmA couple of days ago it was all over the media: Dutch television network BNN would broadcast The Big Donor Show on Friday. The whole show would revolve around a terminally ill woman who would give away one of her kidneys. BNN (never scared of a bit of controversy) would use this show as a way to remember the death of their founder Bart De Graaf, who died five years ago while on the waiting list for a kidney transplant. In one swoop they also wanted to reopen the debate on donors in the Netherlands. The comparison can be quickly made: in Belgium you are a donor, unless you say you don't want to, in the Netherlands you have to state you want to be donor. As a consequence waiting lists in the Netherlands are longer.
The idea behind the show was soon redeemed unethical. A general outcry against asked for prohibition, but the show did nothing wrong according to Dutch law. They did however succeed in getting the assembled international press interested and 1.8 million viewers attached to the screen when was revealed the terminally ill woman was actualy an actress and that they would give no kidney away this evening. The complete show had been a hoax. The three patients however, were real and knew from the start there was no kidney to give away.
It's the second time in a short period that a fake broadcast is made to stir up a debate. Have we become imune for the less televisionised problems of the world? Are we unable to have a decent conversation with arguments and well thought through opinions? And most of all, how comes we tend to believe such unbelievable scenarios when they happen on tv?
The idea behind the show was soon redeemed unethical. A general outcry against asked for prohibition, but the show did nothing wrong according to Dutch law. They did however succeed in getting the assembled international press interested and 1.8 million viewers attached to the screen when was revealed the terminally ill woman was actualy an actress and that they would give no kidney away this evening. The complete show had been a hoax. The three patients however, were real and knew from the start there was no kidney to give away.
It's the second time in a short period that a fake broadcast is made to stir up a debate. Have we become imune for the less televisionised problems of the world? Are we unable to have a decent conversation with arguments and well thought through opinions? And most of all, how comes we tend to believe such unbelievable scenarios when they happen on tv?
