Not so feel-Goody

Jade Goody is going to die on TV. The reality TV veteran, who became a celebrity in the UK after two stints on Big Brother — and a familiar name in India for her racist run-ins with actor Shilpa Shetty on the same show — has struck a deal with the Virgin Media-owned Living TV to document her last days.

Goody has been diagnosed with cervical cancer and has only a few weeks to live. She will allow cameras to shoot her during treatment, at home when she spends time with her sons, and through photo-op moments engineered by her, like a wedding earlier this week to boyfriend Jack Tweed.

Some might say that for a star ‘born’ on reality TV, this is a logical ending, as it were. But people are outraged that a TV channel would agree to televise her death. With reality shows pushing the envelope to rake in the TRPs, many are now also being slammed on ethical grounds.

Shows like Kid Nation and Intervention have raised questions about over-the-top content, children in peril, and social experimentation in a public forum.

Depending on which side of the debate you are ranged, Goody’s death is either a new high or a new low for reality TV. In India, a major concern is that it will spawn spin-offs. “We are living in a copy cat world,” says PN Vasanti, director of the Delhi-based Centre for Media Studies.

“If a show does well abroad, or is controversial, we are sure to replicate it here. I won’t be surprised if someone tries to dramatise something similar to Goody’s death.” There’s also a chance this will encourage people to pull similar stunts, says psychologist Seema Hingorrany. “The need to see ourselves on TV is so great, we will to do anything,” she adds. “Next we’ll have people committing suicide on prime time, especially people with low self-esteem.”

According to Deepak Dhar, managing director at Endemol (India), Indian audiences have a long way to go before they accept watching someone die on TV. “We’re still a little conservative,” he says. “We would reject this idea. ”

 Yet research shows India wants more ‘edgy’ content, though what that is, isn’t clear. Ashish Patil, senior vice president at MTV says: “Surveys show kids today want ‘unlicensed thrills’.

Delhi youngsters want to break a traffic light while the cops are watching, and Bangalore kids want to dare their friends to spend a night in the graveyard. Girls everywhere want to see  a life they cannot lead, which is manifest in cyberdating, fake profiles and talking dirty on the net. They are looking for an emotional pay-off that doesn’t come from saas-bahu serials.”

There’s not much to stop broadcasters from going overboard, should they intend to. The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry’s guidelines — there’s nothing separate for reality shows, even though they make up an estimated 30 per cent of all content — bars the standard things: Violence, obscenity, smoking, alcohol, drugs, libel and such. “There is nothing to stop reality shows from going too far,” says a former official. “And networks could inevitably find a way around rules.” (The I&B Ministry declined to comment.)

Says Vasanti: “If Kid Nation and the Goody series made it past the strict rules set down by regulators like the Federal Communications Commission in the US and Ofcom in the UK, it will be no problem for us in India.”

Broadcasters say they will never ‘pull a Jade’. Says Dhar of Endemol: “As a broadcaster I don’t think we will ever do disturbing content.” According to Rohit Bhandari, senior vice president at AXN, “Reality shows work because they are a vicarious way of living for watchers. But while the spectrum of what constitutes entertainment is vast, I don’t think it includes watching someone die. That’s just not entertainment.”

There is, however, a smart way to leverage something unpleasant into something useful. UK doctors have reported an increase in the number of people coming for cancer tests. And Goody isn’t the first to die on TV.

In 1994, Pedro Zamora, a contestant on MTV’s The Real World, admitted on camera that he had AIDS. He died mid-show, but the media buzz around this helped break some taboos around HIV.

In 2000, actor Tom Green, host of The Tom Green Show in the US, revealed he had testicular cancer — and went on to turn his scary and embarrassing condition into a big network joke. Later, the money raised through advertising was invested in a cancer hospital.

Goody’s bucks from her show will go into a trust for her sons. But stories like hers could also have a more philanthropic ending.