CONTROVERSY OVER REALITY SHOWS IN INDONESIA

Reality show mainly refers to any kind of shows that expose events in the real life, some are scenario-free while some others are scenario-based. It has become increasingly popular in Indonesian media recently. Various kinds of reality show have come to the public with various themes, various substances, and various concepts. Some of the notable reality shows are Termehek-Mehek (TransTV), Tukar Nasib(SCTV), and Uang Kaget (RCTI). Considering the fact that most reality shows have high rate, it is clear that it gains a large number of audience.

However, controversy arises over whether or not reality shows are good shows. Some people argue that reality shows gives influence to our life and we can take many advantages from such programs on television. We can gain more knowledge about people life, some of which perhaps we never imagined. For instance, we can realize how difficult it is for some people to earn money for living and how harsh the life is for some others when they live in a miserable condition. We definitely can take lesson from such programs. So, there is no big deal if we learn from or always take people life as an example. In addition to that, an advantage of watching reality TV shows is that teenagers can get good enjoyment out of it because reality shows are something new, not old prepared program (non-monotonous), thus they allow people to explore new ideas concerning TV programs. Other opinions about the advantages of reality shows would be seeing people in real life situation and how they handle adversity. And the most importantly, the contestants of reality shows may become famous and the reality becomes high ratings among public.

On the other hand, there are also the bad things about reality shows. First of all, some reality shows are not ‘truly reality show’. There is a director who directs the show. In this kind of show, the director directs the program so that the program can imitate reality as close as possible. Since the director’s intervention is dominates the show, it does not really show the real life. For example, there is reality that arranges a dating of a couple. But in that show we can see that the show has been arranged. In this context, we can see that the director tricks the viewers. Secondly, in the case that reality shows ‘truly show the reality’, some reality shows have exceeded the boundary. Any kind of show must respect the privacy of people but since reality shows exist, many people’s privacy has been disturbed and exposed to the public. For example, there is a show that it reveals someone’s relationship. In this case, not only will “the client’s privacy” be uncovered, the people’s privacy around “the client” will be exposed as well. The producers seem not to show appropriate concern about the invasion of people’s privacy. They seem to think only about their probability to gain a rating as high as possible. Finally, some reality shows are forms of exploitation of human’s life (l’exploitation de l’homme par l’homme). In various kinds of reality shows, we can clearly see how the producers exploit many aspects of human life. Some shows that emphasizes on the exposure of people’s hardship are actually exploitation of poverty and some others with private theme are examples of the exploitation of emotions.

In conclusion, reality shows that have a lot of both positive and negative sides. Despite the negative sides of reality shows, we, the viewers at least can still learn from the shows. However, there are some things that we have to concern regarding watching reality shows: we have to be critical of the shows in distinguishing whether they are ‘truly reality show’ or not and we have to be aware of any kind of exploitation occurring in the shows.