This fall, CBS is debuting a new reality series called Kid Nation. In it, 40 kids aged eight to 15 go off to a remote, deserted location to have a Survivor-like adventure for 40 days without adult supervision.
Controversy has sprung up about injuries some of the kids sustained, and the one-sided nature (in CBS’ favor) of a 22-page release that parents had to sign as a condition of their kids’ participation in the show should they be selected. (Here is the New York Times story.)
Mouse Print* has found and reviewed what is purported to be a copy of that release. The producers and CBS left nothing to chance in protecting themselves, while getting parents to give up their rights in protecting their children.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Translation: I accept the risk if a wolf eats my kid, if he drowns during a competition, or any other terrible thing happens.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Translation: If my kid dies, CBS and the producers are not responsible.
Some other provisions of the agreement include (1) that the producers can film the children 24 hours a day anywhere (but not in the bathroom if they are really doing their business in there); (2) that the kids will not have sex with the producers,  and if they have sex with other participants they will not hold the producers liable for STDs or pregnancy; (3) that neither the parents nor the kids will reveal anything about the show for three years, and if they do, they will pay CBS $5 million as liquidated damages; and (4) they will not sue CBS or the producers for anything but instead will take any disputes to arbitration.
It seems there must have been no shortage of stage mothers and fathers who were willing to bite the bullet and sign away their rights as the price for their kid to become a television star. This is no doubt the reason that CBS and the producers could get away with such a one-sided agreement.
The liability issiue is tricky. On the one hand, it is logical that CBS does not want to be liable for ridiculous claims when severe injuries and death are involved, simply because they can not be in charge of everything. On the other hand though, such a contract allows CBS to not care at all about the safety of the participants. They are nor liable anyway. And what’s up with the STD? It’s childeren! What is this program? pedo-camp?
I always wonder about this kind of small print. If things DO go wrong, there will be a lawsuit any way, with ot without contract. So why make the contract?
Furthermore, it seems quite silly to demand from childeren who get to be on tv that they can’t talk about the show. Quite frankly, that stipulation makes the contract frivolous to me.
It’s hard to believe that such contracts involving the safety of minors are even legal. If anything were to happen to any of those kids then the parents would be to blame for signing away their kids life!
Nothing can be said for 3 years? Proof that parts of it were staged or planned to be staged, people were misquoted, the producers misled the minors in many important ways, the whole thing was planned (I can see from the trailers plenty of imposed rules that the production company thought would make things “more interesting”), etc, etc. They can’t even talk about safety issues or negligence arising during the filming.
Edgar replies: See paragraph 30 of the agreement for the confidentiality clause.
Wow! If I was a parent and someone asked me to sign a contract releasing them from liability in case my child dies, not only will I not sign that would be a good sign for me that my child shouldn’t be participating in the program. How much do these parents want fame that they are willing to expose their children to risk of death?
Reality TV is not going to be satisfied until they kill someone. Then the ratings will be all downhill from there.
Are the parents of these children stupid? I think child protective services should investigate anyone who would sign such a contract concerning their child!
So CBS has chosen to be a “free” baby-sitter, but has not accepted the respinsbility? I wonder what the lawyers would say if something serious happened.
I would also expect that every second of this be filmed and made available to any parent (and lawyer) who wanted to confirm that CBS did not CREATE dangerous situations that they are not taking responsibilty for.
As for parents jumping on board, I’m sure that many don’t even bother to read the contract and just assume that “CBS will take care of my kids.” How naiive.
I wonder who their target audience will be and what is the purpose of this reality show (is it to see if a lawful society can come out of the “innocence” of children?) What an interesting experiment at the expense of these children’s lives.
Its all part of the corporatization of America. As someone above pointed out, why are they
allowed to place these terms in a release?? Second what kind of parent after reading the
the release would ever let their child on the show?? Third, what kind of society would
consider a show like this, entertainment? Is America that bored?
A lawyer friend of mine has always advised that I should sign these type of waivers, he states that all I am giving up is MY right to sue. But according to his interpretation of the law, I am not allowed to give up my child’s right to sue, and he can just as easily represent them.
Now back to the things listed, the unanswered question is, “What are they trying to hide?” They must have things in mind if they are looking to Cover their “you know whats”. But clealry there are far too many parents ready to line up and expose their kids to this type of stuff.
@ all those that blame the parents: the problem with this waivers is that you only get to see (and sign) them AFTER you and your kid have gone through some testing and screening. Your kid is all riled up, and CBS gives you these papers and says: gotta sign now, you have 10 mins, plenty of other folks ready to sign without reading. It’s just like cell phone providers making you sign your (unread) contract by signing for the purchase of your phone and giving you a link to the conditions that you can read (and they can change at any time without a trace) online.
It is simply mean.
I absolutely refuse to watch any reality show. They get worse and worse and this
is a perfect example. Is our civilization spiraling into decline like the Roman
empire? They invented the reality shows feeding
Christians to lions for entertainment. We may not be that barbaric but sending
children into possible harm for the sake of entertainment is disturbing.
Meh… it may or may not release them from civil responsibility, but they still would be criminally liable for child endangerment / abandonment if anything happened. If they agreed to take the kids, then they are responsible for them.
Lord of the flies becomes a reality TV show. The shame that we let these idiots breed in the first place. Parental greed!
It’s no CBS fault but the parent for not being smart enough to NOT sign the document.
This is very nearly identical to the waiver required for pretty much any children’s activity that doesn’t take place in a padded room, including the pony ride at which I worked for three seasons. Read carefully; short of us as hosts physically restraining our young guests, each and every one of the mentioned incidents are either beyond the control of the hosts or COULD BE INITIATED BY THE GUESTS THEMSELVES. How does it make sense for someone to be able to sue for something they themselves caused?
You’ll note on page two the stipulation that “… the Producers will take certain precautions in the interest of the safety of the Minor… “. This is an up-front admission in legal language that CBS CAN AND MUST TRY to insure the safety of the minor in question. As I was forced to explain to many concerned parents waivers of this sort mean that “we’ll do our damnedest to bring yer kid back in one piece ma’am, but sometimes bad things just happen.”. Not one single parent regretted having signed.
I don’t know about the U.S., but here in Canada Tomsym’s analysis is correct: there exist certain liabilities concerning minors that CANNOT be waived, no matter what a parent does or signs. Negligence, gross or otherwise, is one of these. In such cases, these waivers merely ensure that the hosts do not take on an UNREASONABLE duty to their guests. After all, some people do try to sue when their leisure activities are interrupted by such this as earthquakes.
Something else to keep in mind is that these waivers are requirements of the insurance carriers for the hosts. For our little pony ride/trail ride outfit, other requirements of the insurance carrier included mandatory federally-approved protective equipment for all minors (helmets!), federally-certified first-aid personnel on staff during all hours of operation, staying within a certain distance of medical transportation, and head counts for minors within specified time limits during the ride. I do not doubt that CBS is similarily constrained.
While everyone should definitely be aware of what all this means, it’s hardly news.
@ Carefull Cowboy: It’s not news, but it is sad.
It is very sad we live in a world where common sense does not rule any more, and in which everything comes with a contract. It is obvious that the responsability for the kids is shared by the parents that send them there and the party that hosts them. Whether you let people sign a waiver or not, in the end a judge will decide who is responsible. So you might as well not have people sing crap they don’t read.
In fact, I believe that it distracts from the true value of a contract. People are getting used so much to not reading what they agree to (ever installed software on your computer), that the value of these agreements is hollowed out more and more. That’s good for lawyers, but bad for the rest of us that just try to live our lives using common sense.
I just saw an interview with the CBS exec in charge of this yesterday and he claims that the waiver is probably about the same as the waiver when you go to Disneyland.
Of course, the big difference is that in Disneyland we typically travel with our kids or at least assign them to a guardian of our own choosing, with a *vested* interest in assisting our child.
What’s the matter with these parents? Money and fame are more important than their children? The children need an advocate and CBS should be liable in spite of their contracts.
I’m disturbed that any parent would sign this, regardless of whether it’s valid. But it does occur to me that there are limits to signing away one’s rights. As someone else said, this might prevent civil suits, but it won’t prevent criminal cases. It might also be the case that a judge would find that the contract isn’t valid. There are certain rights you can’t sign away, even if you want to.
I’m reminded of the EULAs in software that insist that the creator of the software bears no responsibility for anything the program does or even whether it works or not. In reality most EULAs are not enforceable, but they work because many people _think_ they’re enforceable. I have the impression that this contract serves the same purpose: Trying to make parents _think_ they’ve signed away their children’s lives so they won’t bother to try to sue.
It’s all a game, but if it comes to a bad end sue ’em anyway. The contract itself implies negligence in that any attempts they make to keep the kids safe isn’t good enough because of the attempt by the contract to make anything that does happen not their fault anyway~
WOW, It’s unbelievable.
Oh well, they’ll have to learn them selves….since when do people think like that, really.
Once again, people just love crazy things.
IF FREEDOM IS OUTLAWED, ONLY OUTLAWS (in this case, the one with bad intentions) WILL HAVE FREEDOM….
If living is outlawed(as in the contract), people will die because of the outlaws?
“Acts of God?” Why not “Natural Disasters?”
“Collisions With Other Participants?” “Yah, I’m going to sue because my kid ran into another kid and bruised himself.”
Are you seriouse!? they say there not responsible if there child has sex with a producer??!!! and then they cant say anything about it for 3 years? It sounds to me like everything is staged and they only want the children so they can get busy with them… must can get … and they can only get it by force! And since the child cant say anything for 3 years they could have an STD or something and the parents not no anything about it… thye could be scared for life … wich could lead top mental issues.
Oh, wow this sounds really harsh. Your signing and basically saying its okay if your kid dies,
gets hurt,or uh…other. I really don’t care though. You’d kind of have to be stupid to think
that someone could ACTUALLY die on the set.(yes its possible but still, the odds?)I don’t care what anyone says because I want to sign up for Kid Nation 2, even though I am only 13.
I do think it is kinda harsh that you said the kid could die! But i would still want to go on kid nation 2 just because you could meet other kids,be on tv,and it teaches you how to take care of yourself if you had no family. So it wouldnt matter to me if i didnt get on kid nation 2 but i would love to go on so please may i go on kid nation 2 im 10 years old!
To fkfaghakjha,
You are obviously one of those that don’t read. Go back and read above! “Some other provisions of the agreement include…(2) that the kids will NOT have sex with the producers,…” They are not saying that they are not responsible for that! As for the rest, Get Real! CBS has a vested interested to ensure that no harm or accidents come to their property. Those kids are making CBS $$$$$$ and CBS wants in every way to make sure no harm comes to their investiments! Start reading between the lines! ie. Stop allowing other people to think for you, Start THINKING for yourselves for a change!
So many people (adults) have lost what it is like to be a child. Children today are WAY too protected from EVERYTHING! A skinned knee, a sliver from an old piece of wood, a cut from a sharp object, a burn from touching something too hot, are all object lessons. Without them, would we need band-aids? Can a child get hurt, ABSOLUTELY! But so can adults! Does a child learn from this, also absolutely; children are NOT dumb! They know what work is. They also know how to manipulate adults too!
Kid Nation was way above a lot of adults head. Critics are making a mountain out of a mole hill about it. Simply put, this show was about watching how children cope with everyday lives and how they solve their every day challenges.
Let’s define work; to think that doing dishes (by hand), cleaning house (using a real mop & broom), preparing meals, etc. is work, is mildly “Hog Wash!†These are everyday tasks or “chores” that have to be done. Any child that doesn’t learn this early-on has a BIG problem ahead of them in life. This show was not only entertainment but, very educational as well. Every cast member of this show will never forget the experiences they LEARNED while on this show.
It is a pleasant feeling to know that there are still some children out there that can figure things out on their own, how to work most problems out, how to get along with, and take care of, each other in life. Kids, “hats off to you,” Go for it!
Last fall we all sat around the television set as a family, watching every week; and then, waited for the next week’s episode to air. It was a wonderful family program. We as a family even Google Earthed and found “Bonanza City” in New Mexico (Bonanza Creek Ranch Movie Set #1, just southwest of Santa Fe) and pictured where they were and what it could be possibly like there during filming. Kid Nation sure beats all the lousy crime shows that they have now left us with (which we don’t watch).
…As for asking CBS to make Kid Nation 2. If that has seemed to fall on deaf ears…hit CBS in their pocket book!
Write the companies that advertised their products during the commercials when the show aired. The companies running the advertisements have a lot of pull as to where their monies are spent. If the public shows the advertisers that they were watching their commercials during the show, they are a lot more willing to tell CBS that they want their products shown on “Kid Nation 2, etc.” They have a larger voice than you and I combined.
Let’s all get out our pens, pencils and paper (or) exercise our fingers on the keyboards and write those letters and emails!