| Fox recently announced its intention to launch a new reality show called Bad
Dads.
According to Reuters, in Bad Dads Jim Durham, director of the
National Child Support Center, "functions as a sort of 'Dog the Bounty Hunter'
for tracking deadbeats...[Durham's role is as] an avenger of penniless single
mothers [who] hunts down deadbeat dads and forces them to pay child support...
"In the pilot, a financially destitute mom is contrasted with her wealthy
ex-husband, who is living the high life. Durham confronts the man at his country
club to shake him down in front his friends. It's ambush reality TV."
According to Reuters, Durham will target fathers who are behind on their
child support by "making their lives miserable -- foreclosing on their house,
repossessing their car. He will squeeze them..."
To send a protest email and fax to the leading executives at Fox, click here.
We oppose Bad Dads for six reasons:
- Bad Dads publicly humiliates
children of broken families by depicting their fathers as not loving or
caring for them.
- Bad Dads unfairly depicts
divorced fathers as uncaring and selfish, when research clearly shows that
most divorced dads pay their child support and remain a part of their
children's lives, often under difficult circumstances.
- The records of the child support agencies are notorious for being
riddled with errors--they cannot be relied upon to determine who is a
legitimate "deadbeat" and who isn't.
- Bad Dads singles out fathers for shaming, when U.S. Census data
shows that noncustodial fathers are more likely to pay their child
support than noncustodial mothers.
- Bad Dads glorifies private collection companies whose practices
are so abusive that even the National Organization for Women has condemned
them and urged women to avoid them.
- Television is rife with negative, misleading and unfair depictions of
fathers--Bad Dads promises to be one of the worst examples.
I am partnering with
Fathers & Families and the
American Coalition for Fathers & Children in a campaign to ask Fox to cancel
Bad Dads. In general, the Fox network has usually been fair to fathers.
This show is an unfortunate exception, and we hope Fox will soon understand
this.To send a protest email and fax to the leading executives at Fox,
click here.
Fox has already had the opportunity to resolve this matter quietly--a
representative of the
True Equality Network says that when they recently contacted a leading Fox
executive to express their concerns about Bad Dads, the executive was
"very rude" and "hung up on them."
To send a protest email and fax to the leading executives at Fox, click here.
Best Wishes,
Glenn Sacks
GlennSacks.com |
