The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, January 24, 2003, Page 2, Image 2
Reality IV
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Millionaire.” While reactions on
the morality of these shows are
mixed, the ratings for most remain
high.
The popularity of reality shows
seems to have exploded in recent
years, with numerous series such
as
♦ “Fear Factor”;
♦ “The Mole”;
♦ “Temptation Island";
♦ “The Osbournes”;
♦ “The Bachelor”;
♦ “The Real World”;
♦ “Road Rules”;
♦ “American Idol”;
♦ “Meet My Folks”;
♦ “Survivor” (and its sequels);
♦ “Surreal Life”;
♦ “Trading Spaces”;
♦ “High School Reunion”;
♦ “Blind Date”;
♦ and a myriad of others.
Reality television producer
Mark Burnett is even considering
a space reality series.
Some think the shows have
gone too far. In Portugal, televi
sion stations carrying two reality
television shows, “Big Brother”
and “O Bar da TV,” have been
sued for explicit sex scenes and in
vasion of privacy, respectively.
Parents are also concerned. The
Parents Television Council con
ducted a study of reality television
shows and found that on broadcast
networks, the overall rate of sex,
foul language and violence was 9.5
occurrences per hour. On cable
networks, the rate was higher at
29.4 instances per hour.
“Joe Millionaire” has been
questioned in the United States
and Great Britain. Concerned
Women for America representa
tive Robert Knight told BBC News
Online that “the take-home mes
sage from this show is that it’s
okay to lie, to cheat and to mislead
as long as it’s entertaining and we
can make a lot of-money out of it.”
While the morality of these
shows remains questionable, rat
ings have soared. “Joe Millionaire”
and “The Bachelorette” ranked 12
and 10, respectively, on the prime
time ratings compiled by Nielsen
Media Research for the week of Jan.
13 through 19. CBS reports that the
final episode of “Survivor,” which
aired in 2000, drew an average 51.7
million viewers, or 41 percent of the
American viewing public.
“There’s that kind of fascina
tion at the awfulness of some
thing,” said Patrick Nolan, a
University of South Carolina so
ciology professor, as he compared
Reality television to a person’s
fascination with a car accident.
“You don’t really want to look,
but you can’t not look.”
Nolan also commented on the
universality of the shows as a
component of their popularity.
“I think it deals with funda
- mental human concerns, funda
mental human emotions and fun
damental human characteristics,
PHOTO BY JOHN RABON/THE GAMECOCK
Joy King, a first-year HRTM student, watches “Real World
Road Rules Battle of the Sexes” in her dorm room.
so it doesn’t matter whether
you’re African, or whether you’re
European, or whether you’re
Asian,” Nolan said.
Van Kornegay, an associate
professor at USC’s School of
Journalism and Mass Commun
ications, thinks the reality televi
sion trend will eventually lose
popularity like most of what he
calls “low-brow entertainment.”
“It is duplicated and replicat
ed over and over again until peo
ple get sick of it,” Kornegay said.
“TV is ultimately that rip-off and
duplicate medium ... sooner or
later people get tired of that.”
They haven’t yet. Reality tele
vision origins can be traced back
to “Candid Camera,” which has
been on and off network televi
sion since 1948. PBS even joined
the genre with a 1973 documen
tary called “An American
Family” based on a “typical”
American middle-class family.
Stunned audience members
watched a marriage fall apart and
the parents’ oldest son announce
that he was gay.
Other long-lasting reality
shows include “Cops,” “Star
Search” and “America’s Most
Wanted.”
First-year mechanical engi
neering student Alex Pietras
thinks reality shows have gone
too far, “to a point.”
“It’s just people like the shock
value and entertainment,” Pietras
said. “I think it’s trash and capi
talizes on degrading common peo
ple.”
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Patel
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Patel then left the meeting de
spite Shipman's attempt to tem
porarily suspend the Senate rules
and detain Patel until the sub
poena hearing.
Later Wednesday evening in a
phone interview, Patel main
tained that the accusations
stemmed from a desire for media
attention.
“J.D. and Adam are making up
lies to get their names in the pa
per,” he said. “We have a lot of is
. sues in Student Government that
need to be addressed, and we do
not need to be playing political
games.”
After Patel left the meeting,
Shipman and Hark took the stage
to address the subpoena issue, cit
ing Patel’s alleged misconduct be
fore the Senate. Hark called
Patel’s dismissal of the subpoena
a “media ploy” fueled by political
ambition.
“I don’t think we should put
any regard to what my intentions
might have been or what J.D.’s
intentions might have been,”
Hark said. “What’s important is
that this is a great undermine.”
After the meeting, Hark com
mented on Patel’s exit.
“I find it bothersome and
amusing at the same time that
Ankit Patel has been pretending
to be senator this whole semester,
yet this time, he couldn’t even
stay for the remainder of the
Senate,” Hark said. “There is no
other word for his actions today
other than cowardly, and I hope
they were out of shame.”
Patel said he saw nothing
wrong with anything he’d done.
“I did not lie at any time,”
Patel said. “I offered myself to an
swer any questions that they
might have had, and when I did,
they asked me to step down.”
Patel said the same questions
were raised in October, when the
Senate discussed the student ac
tivity fee, and that nobody ex
pressed concerns then over po
tential violations. He also em
phasized that he had always been
available to answer questions and
that he thought a subpoena was
unnecessary.
“I don’t understand why they
needed to subpoena me when I
said, ‘I’m here, I’m willing to an
swer questions,’ ” Patel said.
Shipman said he was sur
prised at Patel’s actions.
“He thinks he’s above the stu
dent body and the Senate,” he said.
“I’m absolutely shocked that
he left today,” said Shipman, who
said he plans to run for SG presi
dent in the upcoming election.
“What he did was run away from
the conflict, and he ran away
from the conflict because he
didn’t have answers.”
Patel said he wanted to know
how the subpoena legislation got
to the floor without first gaining
the approval of the Rules
Committee.
The official Student Senate
subpoena hearing will be
Wednesday at 5 p.m. in the
Russell House Theater.
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POLICE REPORT
These reports are taken directly from the USC Police Department.
Compiled by Adam Beam.
Each number on
the map stands
for a crime
corresponding
with numbered
descriptions in
the list below.
DAY CRIMES
(6a.m.-6 p.m.)
□ Violent
O Nonviolent
NIGHT CRIMES
(6 p.m.-6a.m.)
■ Violent
• Nonviolent
CRIMES AT
UNKNOWN
HOURS
H Violent
© Nonviolent
Tuesday, Jan. 21
O SIMPLE POSSESSION OF
MARIJUANA, BATES HOUSE,
1405 WHALEY ST. When
reporting officer G. Kerwin
responded to a report of
possible marijuana use, a
resident adviser took him to
the room from which a strong
odor of marijuana was coming.
Paul George Moody and John
Fredrick Letts were arrested
on charges of marijuana
possession.
O auto break-in, larceny
OF SUNGLASSES, S-21 LOT,
100 S. MARION ST. The victim
said someone pried open the
passenger’s-side window and
took a leather purse, a pair of
sunglasses and a checkbook.
Estimated value: $80. Reporting
officer: R.B. Baker.
O GRAND LARCENY OF MOTOR
VEHICLE, 103 S. MARION ST.,
S-21 LOT The victim said
someone stole a black Jeep
Grand Cherokee with South
Carolina license plate 525
MHV. Estimated value: $3,000.
Reporting officer: C. Taylor,
o AUTO BREAK-IN, GRAND
LARCENY OF RECOVERY
SYSTEM, UNKNOWN LOCATION
(OFF MAP) The victim said
someone broke the rear
window of the car and took a
refrigerant recovery system,
two Dewalt cordless drills and
a vacuum pump. Estimated
value: $1,650. Reporting officer:
T. Cox.
O AUTO BREAK-IN, LARCENY
OF GREEN TEA, 1719
PENDLETON ST. The victim said
someone broke the front
driver’s-side window and took
an ashtray, cell phone and a 10
pound bag of green tea.
Estimated value: $90.
O LARCENY OF BICYCLE
PATTERSON HALL, 1520
DEVINE ST. The victim said
someone took his red
Diamondback mountain
bicycle. Estimated value: $250.
Reporting officer: T. Cox.
Wednesday, Jan. 22
O DISORDERLY CONDUCT,
BLOSSOM STREET GARAGE
LEVEL 2,1300 BLOSSOM ST.
Police said they found Joshua
Michael French on level two of
the Blossom Street Garage with
bloodshot eyes, slurred speech
and a strong odor of alcohol on
his breath. French was
arrested on charges of
disorderly conduct,
o AUTO BREAK-IN, GRAND
LARCENY OF CLOTHING, 501
SUMTER ST. The victim said
someone broke the rear
passenger’s-side window and
stole the car radio, a CD player,
an amplifier, two 10-inch
speakers, a speaker hox, two
pairs of shoes, two pairs of
boots and three pairs of jeans.
Estimated value: $2,900.
Reporting officer: M.P. Craska.
O MALICIOUS INJURY TO
PERSONAL PROPERTY, A-2 LOT,
800 SUMTER ST.
The victim said someone did
major damage to the driver’s
side of the car. Estimated
damage: $2,000. Reporting
officer: J.M. Simmons.
<g> TRESPASS AFTER NOTICE,
DISORDERLY CONDUCT.
RUSSELL HOUSE, 1400
GREENE ST. Reporting officers
T. Cox and J. Means responded
to a call that Ira J. McKinnen
was harassing and pan
handling students. Police said
McKinnen was loud, had
bloodshot eyes and slurred
speech, and was unsteady on
his feet. Police said McKinnen
had been warned three times to
stay off USC property or face
arrest.
□ ASSAULT, INTIMIDATION,
MAXCY COLLEGE, 1312
PENDLETON ST. The victims
said John Wesley Donehue
burst into their room making
threats and cursing. The
victims they asked Donehue to
leave but that he refused. The
victims said they would sign a
warrant against Donehue.
Donehue was located and
completed a statement.
Reporting officer: G. Cox.
@ SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY, S-26
LOT, SUMTER AND CATAWBA
STREETS The victim said a man
made lewd remarks to her and
asked if she wanted to go
somewhere. The victim told the
man she was not interested,
and he left. Reporting officer:
J.A. Henry.
# MALICIOUS INJURY TO
PERSONAL PROPERTY, SOUTH
TOWER, 614 BULL ST. The
victim said someone broke her
dorm room window by
throwing an apple at it.
Estimated damage: $50.
Reporting officer: J.B. Coaxum.
@ SIMPLE POSSESSION OF
MARIJUANA, MOORE
RESIDENCE HALL, 1423
WHALEY ST. Reporting officer
G. Cox received a call from the
fourth floor of Moore about
possible drug use. Before he got
there, two of the four suspects
fled. After checking the sign-in
log, the officer called the
suspects to ask whether there
were drugs in the room. After
that, Horacea E. Privette went
to the desk and removed a bag
of marijuana. Privette was
arrested.
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