A Parenting & kids forum. ParentingBanter.com

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » ParentingBanter.com forum » alt.support » Child Support
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Why is the father always the villain on American TV?



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old May 20th 09, 06:52 PM posted to alt.child-support
Dusty
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 340
Default Why is the father always the villain on American TV?

Unfortunately, there is nothing about the NCP mothers that fail to pay.
That would have been interesting to see, eh?

----------------------------------------------------------

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009...anti-dad-bias/
EDITORIAL: Anti-Dad bias
Why is the father always the villain on American TV?
Monday, May 18, 2009

Strong families need strong fathers, but American television has come a long
way from the 1950s series "Father Knows Best."

Now Lifetime TV, a network known for its movies about women being endangered
by men, has sunk to a new low - a reality program called "Deadbeat Dads."

In the beginning of gotcha TV, viewers enjoyed watching the police bust down
a door and haul away the bad guy on a show like "Cops." That same format
migrated over to Animal Planet, where the cops bust down the door and arrest
the man who has been starving his dogs or kicking his cats. Now Lifetime is
doing the same thing to divorced fathers.

Lifetime TV's new reality show, "Deadbeat Dads," centers around National
Child Support founder Jim Durham, who finds and confronts dads who do not
pay their child support. Reuters news agency reports that Mr. Durham
"functions as sort of a 'Dog the Bounty Hunter' for tracking deadbeats ...
it's ambush reality TV." However, the reality show, originally developed at
Fox as "Bad Dads" and later dropped, is Lifetime's attempt to take cheap
shots at men while ignoring the damage the show can cause children, wives
and other family members.

The Lifetime TV program ignores the numbers. More than 90 percent of fathers
with joint custody paid the support due, according to a Census Bureau report
(Series P-23, No. 173). So deadbeats are in the minority. Also, most
so-called deadbeat dads actually are dead broke. Two-thirds of men who fail
to make child-support payments earn poverty-level wages, according to the
Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement. Most of the others are
unemployed.

Bruce Walker, executive coordinator at the District Attorneys Council in
Oklahoma City, who ran the state's child-support enforcement program for
three years and jailed hundreds of fathers for nonpayment, told the Newark
Star-Ledger in 2002: "These men are seldom the mythical monsters described
by politicians."

"Many times I prosecuted impoverished men," he told the Star-Ledger. "I
prosecuted one deadbeat dad who had been hospitalized for malnutrition and
another who lived in the bed of a pickup truck."

Nor is it likely that Lifetime will ever show that some fathers simply give
money directly to their teenage children because some mothers end up using
child-support payments for everything but the child.

Child visitation and child support are tied together, at least in the minds
of many fathers. The largest federally funded study of child-support
payments was led by Arizona State University researcher Sanford Braver over
an eight-year period. Mr. Braver found that fathers with joint custody pay
90.2 percent of all child support ordered. Fathers with visitation rights
pay 79.1 percent of all child support ordered. However, fathers with no
access or visitation rights to their children pay just 44.5 percent of the
court-ordered child support. Much of Mr. Braver's data was backed up in the
Census Bureau report (Series P-23, No. 173).

But what about divorced moms who do not allow the father to visit his
children, despite court orders allowing him to do so? Another study,
"Visitational Interference: A National Study" by J. Annette Vanini and
Edward Nichols, found that 77 percent of noncustodial fathers are not able
to spend time with their children, as ordered by the court, as a result of
"visitation interference" perpetuated by the custodial parent. This would
mean that noncompliance with court-ordered visitation is three times the
problem of noncompliance with court-ordered child support. In short, lousy
moms outnumber deadbeat dads 3-1.

Will Lifetime TV be truthful about how often some mothers end a relationship
with the father, take custody of the children and refuse to allow the father
access to the children? Indeed, after the age of 40, women initiate more
divorces than men.

While sometimes it seems that Lifetime has an anti-male agenda, perhaps it
is simply pandering to embittered moms who make up the network's audience.
The full tragedy of the collapse of many American families remains untold.
It is a worthy subject, but it must be told without ideology; it must be
clear-eyed about the myriad ways men and women have failed each other. Such
radical honesty would make for compelling television and would be a public
service. Pity Lifetime is not daring enough to try it.

  #2  
Old May 20th 09, 11:48 PM posted to alt.child-support,alt.politics.economics,alt.politics.usa.constitution
DB[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 266
Default Why is the father always the villain on American TV?

Its' the politicians who created this mess and the pressure groups that
wanted it!


"Dusty" wrote in message
...
Unfortunately, there is nothing about the NCP mothers that fail to pay.
That would have been interesting to see, eh?

----------------------------------------------------------

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009...anti-dad-bias/
EDITORIAL: Anti-Dad bias
Why is the father always the villain on American TV?
Monday, May 18, 2009

Strong families need strong fathers, but American television has come a
long way from the 1950s series "Father Knows Best."

Now Lifetime TV, a network known for its movies about women being
endangered by men, has sunk to a new low - a reality program called
"Deadbeat Dads."

In the beginning of gotcha TV, viewers enjoyed watching the police bust
down a door and haul away the bad guy on a show like "Cops." That same
format migrated over to Animal Planet, where the cops bust down the door
and arrest the man who has been starving his dogs or kicking his cats. Now
Lifetime is doing the same thing to divorced fathers.

Lifetime TV's new reality show, "Deadbeat Dads," centers around National
Child Support founder Jim Durham, who finds and confronts dads who do not
pay their child support. Reuters news agency reports that Mr. Durham
"functions as sort of a 'Dog the Bounty Hunter' for tracking deadbeats ...
it's ambush reality TV." However, the reality show, originally developed
at Fox as "Bad Dads" and later dropped, is Lifetime's attempt to take
cheap shots at men while ignoring the damage the show can cause children,
wives and other family members.

The Lifetime TV program ignores the numbers. More than 90 percent of
fathers with joint custody paid the support due, according to a Census
Bureau report (Series P-23, No. 173). So deadbeats are in the minority.
Also, most so-called deadbeat dads actually are dead broke. Two-thirds of
men who fail to make child-support payments earn poverty-level wages,
according to the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement. Most of the
others are unemployed.

Bruce Walker, executive coordinator at the District Attorneys Council in
Oklahoma City, who ran the state's child-support enforcement program for
three years and jailed hundreds of fathers for nonpayment, told the Newark
Star-Ledger in 2002: "These men are seldom the mythical monsters described
by politicians."

"Many times I prosecuted impoverished men," he told the Star-Ledger. "I
prosecuted one deadbeat dad who had been hospitalized for malnutrition and
another who lived in the bed of a pickup truck."

Nor is it likely that Lifetime will ever show that some fathers simply
give money directly to their teenage children because some mothers end up
using child-support payments for everything but the child.

Child visitation and child support are tied together, at least in the
minds of many fathers. The largest federally funded study of child-support
payments was led by Arizona State University researcher Sanford Braver
over an eight-year period. Mr. Braver found that fathers with joint
custody pay 90.2 percent of all child support ordered. Fathers with
visitation rights pay 79.1 percent of all child support ordered. However,
fathers with no access or visitation rights to their children pay just
44.5 percent of the court-ordered child support. Much of Mr. Braver's data
was backed up in the Census Bureau report (Series P-23, No. 173).

But what about divorced moms who do not allow the father to visit his
children, despite court orders allowing him to do so? Another study,
"Visitational Interference: A National Study" by J. Annette Vanini and
Edward Nichols, found that 77 percent of noncustodial fathers are not able
to spend time with their children, as ordered by the court, as a result of
"visitation interference" perpetuated by the custodial parent. This would
mean that noncompliance with court-ordered visitation is three times the
problem of noncompliance with court-ordered child support. In short, lousy
moms outnumber deadbeat dads 3-1.

Will Lifetime TV be truthful about how often some mothers end a
relationship with the father, take custody of the children and refuse to
allow the father access to the children? Indeed, after the age of 40,
women initiate more divorces than men.

While sometimes it seems that Lifetime has an anti-male agenda, perhaps it
is simply pandering to embittered moms who make up the network's audience.
The full tragedy of the collapse of many American families remains untold.
It is a worthy subject, but it must be told without ideology; it must be
clear-eyed about the myriad ways men and women have failed each other.
Such radical honesty would make for compelling television and would be a
public service. Pity Lifetime is not daring enough to try it.



 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Upstanding Father. Druggy Mother. Father is denied Custody Henry Child Support 1 August 7th 07 08:11 PM
American or Britsh Carl Nixon Foster Parents 2 February 9th 05 03:10 AM
Proud To Be An American Trish Sherman Foster Parents 0 September 10th 04 10:21 PM
American Juniors Iowacookiemom General (moderated) 2 August 13th 03 03:22 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 01:02 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 ParentingBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.