WHY ARE “Experts” SO TRAUMATIZED BY “KID NATION”?
Do we need to install a V-chip on TVs to protect grownups–especially fragile child psychologists–from CBS’s new reality series, Kid Nation? What accounts for the outpouring of apocalyptic fear about the dangers of a show that deputized 40 children ages 8 to 15 to spend a few weeks restoring a decrepit New Mexico mining town? From the horrified cries, you’d think the show was filming child porn and strapping kids to torture devices. Kid Nation “is igniting a firestorm of criticism from children’s mental health and media experts,” USA Today’s Marilyn Elias declared. “There may be lasting emotional injuries to some children involved and bad after-effects for viewers, say experts on media and kids.” In line with USA Today’s and other media’s evident, one-sided policy of anointing only those “experts” who present the direst, most superficial panics about youth, adolescent psychologist Joseph Allen, child psychiatrist Michael Brody, child psychologist Jana Martin, and Seattle pediatrician
