Say Anything Blog

It was supposed to be a special report on adoption but 20/20's program on Sunday night seemed more like a reality show.

From The New York Post via Drudge:

A giant-sized controversy is brewing over a baby adoption special on "20/20" - and sending ABC execs into a tailspin. Millions of viewers across the country watched in surprise over the weekend as the network aired a sensational promo for Friday's segment, which pits five desperate couples against each other for the privilege of adopting a 16-year-old's baby.
A very personal, intimate process was made to look like a reality-show contest, with prospective parents dubbed "winners" and "losers."

Yesterday, complaints flooded into radio stations, Web sites and even the FCC - many of them noting that host Barbara Walters is not only a respected journalist, but also an adoptive mother.

"I've already sent my outrage to [the producer of "20/20"] making a reality show out of something so personal," wrote one user on the Web site eeadopt.com.

"While I haven't seen the show, it definitely sounds like the marketing department at ABC was attempting to add a reality TV spin, which is definitely an all-time low - especially when children are at stake," says radio journalist Jane Braverman, who's adopting a child.

That not enough for you? Check out this photo of Barbara Walters and the baby's mother:



I'm not sure I could sit and smile while Barbara Walters hawks my baby to a group of people during a news broadcast that is amounting to little more than a game show.

Maybe 20/20 should have taken some of the money it put into this broadcast and given it to the mother. That way she could raise her own child, though I have to question the love of any mother who would go on television and put their child up as a prize for the "winners" of a competition.