Gosselin situation bares asking, ‘Should young children be a part of reality TV?’
We’ve doled out our fair share of Jon Gosselin disses but on this story I am firmly on the side of a father who is greatly concerned about the exposure of his children.
William Blankinship is an editor who worked on Jon and Kate Gosselin’s popular reality TV show Jon & Kate Plus 8. He was arrested back on Oct 21 on 10 counts of sexually exploiting a minor. As you can imagine, this revelation has sickened Jon. Blankinship was busted in a major North Carolina State Bureau sting called “Operation Spyglass.” The charge of sexually exploiting a minor translates to authorities alleging he was in possession of material that contained a visual representation of a minor engaging in sexual activity.
TLC released the following statement when his arrest came to light:
“Bill Blankinship was employed by Serious Robots, with whom Figure 8 Films subcontract for editing services. Upon learning of the shocking allegations his employment was terminated. At no time was this man ever in the field or in direct contact with any of the talent for any of our productions.”
Jon has long argued against exposing his children via the show. He stated back in 2009, ” “I put my kids out there to every pedophile on the planet and they never got paid for it.”
Booking Photo: William Blankinship
Jon had met Blankinship on many different occasions personally and is greatly concerned about the access this man had to raw footage of the 8 kids Jon shares custody of with Kate Gosselin. Right now Jon is trying to be proactive about this potentially horrible situation:
“I have contacted an attorney and I’m trying to gather all the information from the authorities in North Carolina to see if there is any evidence he has footage of our family or if he has distributed it.”
Primarily, Jon is troubled by footage that Blankinship might have seen:
“Of course we filmed potty training…Any parent would be freaked out by this, because the cameraman definitely shot the kids getting ready for bed, being showered and being changed.”
I really hope that nothing comes from this and that Jon’s fears will not become realized. This brings up the ongoing question of whether or not young children should be a part of reality TV. Popular shows like Teen Mom, Sister Wives and others that Blankinship personally worked on including 17 Kids and Counting and Table for 12 feature and highlight the daily lives of children.
What do you think in light of this troubling arrest and Jon’s response. Does this news change your mind about having children exposed on television in this way?
Top Photo: WENN.com
