[lbo-talk] Workplace democracy as televised entertainment

B. docile_body at yahoo.com
Tue Apr 7 17:31:21 PDT 2009


http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE53653P20090407?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

New reality TV show hands firepower to staff

Tue Apr 7, 2009 1:51pm EDT

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A new reality show from the Dutch-based creator of the hit TV series 'Big Brother' will allow staff at companies struggling in the global recession to choose which colleague should be fired.

In each episode of 'Someone's Gotta Go', developed by production company Endemol, workers at a struggling business will choose who should get a salary cut or raise and who should be fired based on information about pay and past performance.

"It will be an interesting experiment to reverse the power roles," said a spokesman for Endemol, which is partly owned by Italy's Mediaset.

Endemol, which developed internationally popular reality television show formats such as "Big Brother" and game show "Wipeout," has sold the format to Fox Television in the United States and hopes to broadcast it in other countries, the spokesman said.

The new show comes in the footsteps of other reality TV shows such as "The Apprentice," which is aired on the BBC in Britain and the United States.

Candidates in that show are set a series of tasks with a job as the apprentice to businessman Sir Alan Sugar in Britain or real estate mogul Donald Trump in the United States as the prize.

(Reporting by Mette Ouborg, editing by Paul Casciato)



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