Lifetime TV announced the launch of its new, father-bashing reality show Deadbeat Dads last week, and Lifetime received several thousand protest letters, calls and faxes last week. This week we take our protest to the Hearst Corporation, which owns much of Lifetime TV. To email and fax a protest letter to both Hearst and Lifetime Executives, click here. Also, please call Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc.’s main switchboard at (212) 887-6800. If you participated in Round 1, we invite you to participate in Round 2.
“Neither accurate nor fair.”
–Syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker, Washington Post Writers Group, on Deadbeat Dads
According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Deadbeat Dads, originally developed at Fox, follows National Child Support founder Jim Durham as he tracks down and confronts dads who don’t pay child support.’ According to Reuters, Durham “functions as a sort of ‘Dog the Bounty Hunter’ for tracking deadbeats…It’s ambush reality TV.” Durham will target fathers who are behind on their child support by “making their lives miserable — foreclosing on their house, repossessing their car. He will squeeze them.”
“The producers of this show, which is supposed to center the welfare of children, think nothing about turning kids into collateral damage.’–syndicated advice columnist Amy Alkon, on Deadbeat Dads
Last April, Fathers & Families led a highly-publicized campaign against the show (originally called “Bad Dads’) and got Fox to drop it. Now Lifetime TV, which reaches nearly 100 million households, has picked up Deadbeat Dads, which unfairly depicts divorced fathers as uncaring and selfish. Research clearly shows that most divorced dads pay their child support and remain a part of their children’s lives, often under difficult circumstances. In fact, federal government data shows that the overwhelming majority of “deadbeat dads” earn poverty level wages–only 4% earn even $40,000 a year.
“Disturbing…they are heaping abuse on men in the name of ‘justice'”–TV Host/Psychologist Helen Smith, on Deadbeat Dads
To email and fax a protest letter to both Hearst and Lifetime Executives, click here. Also, please call Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc.’s main switchboard at (212) 887-6800.
Deadbeat Dads kicks fathers while they”re down. Media reports show the majority of those losing their jobs in this recession are men, and child support orders are notoriously difficult to modify downward. As the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and other papers have documented, these hard luck dads sometimes end up in jail.
“Information about child support debts that is fed to such agencies is often incorrect…both feminist and men’s groups have protested the unethical, thug-like methods used by agencies…”–Author, former Fox News Columnist Wendy McElroy, on Deadbeat Dads
The worst part about Deadbeat Dads is the way it publicly humiliates children in single parent families by depicting their fathers as not loving or caring for them. How is a child to feel when he or she sees their dad being vilified on TV because he allegedly doesn’t love or provide for them? How is the child to feel when he or she is reminded of this by friends or teased about it on the schoolyard?
Over 150 Mental Health, Family Law & Medical Professionals Condemn Lifetime’s Deadbeat Dads
Another problem with Deadbeat Dads is that studies show that the arrearages for which “deadbeat dads” are pursued are often erroneous. For example, a recent Massachusetts audit found that the arrearages were incorrect in 92% of that state’s cases.
Moreover, Deadbeat Dads glorifies the role of private child support collection agencies, even though these agencies often manhandle fathers and exploit and deceive custodial mothers. In fact, women’s advocates, including the National Organization for Women, have repeatedly condemned these agencies for mistreating women. Durham, the central figure in Deadbeat Dads, has often been singled out by women’s groups as a perpetrator of these abusive tactics.
To email and fax a protest letter to both Hearst and Lifetime Executives, click here. Also, please call Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc.’s main switchboard at (212) 887-6800.
Running these campaigns takes time and money–to make a tax-deductible contribution to support our efforts, click here.
Together with you in the struggle,
Glenn Sacks, MA
Executive Director, Fathers & Families
Ned Holstein, M.D., M.S.
Founder, Chairman of the Board, Fathers & Families