Jon and Kate Gosselin, of the hit TLC series “Jon and Kate Plus 8,” have recently been splashed all over the tabloids and the news. Accusations about how their marriage is in trouble, infidelity, and the way Kate treats Jon are seen everywhere.
On the May 27 edition of “The Early Show,” CBS showed audacious hypocrisy. A segment pointed to the exploitation of the Gosselins and their children by featuring clips of a distraught Kate in the season premiere. But then Harry Smith interviewed Kate's younger brother and sister-in-law, Kevin and Jodi Kreider, only exploiting the Gosselin family more.
The fifth season of “Jon and Kate Plus 8” premiered May 25 to a record audience of 9.8 viewers. But the family has been in the spotlight for longer than that as Smith pointed out, saying, “Every time you go to a newsstand there's another cover and another cover.” The double episode featured the sextuplets' fifth birthday, but it was clear that both Gosselins were very strained and feeling the effects of all the media attention.
“The Early Show” reporter Michelle Gielan emphasized the adverse impact of the spotlight on the Gosselins. The clips shown from the season premiere featured Jon and Kate separately discussing the paparazzi and all of the unwanted tabloid attention. A clearly unhappy Kate confessed everything was negatively affecting her and even said, “It kills me.” She could be seen dabbing her eyes with a tissue. Gielan sympathized, saying, “But the media isn't going away anytime soon.”
Yet Smith's interview with the Kreiders did nothing but give even more unwanted attention to the Gosselin family. On screen over a subhead that read: “Kate's brother reveals the real Jon and Kate,” Kevin Kreider, who appeared to be distraught, stated that, “We want to be the voices of our nieces and nephews.” The Kreiders explained how the Gosselin children are being exploited and events such as birthdays and outings are used to garner ratings, as there are no laws protecting child reality stars. Jodi Krieder stated that the children even told her that they didn't want to be on the camera all of the time.
Smith sympathized with the Krieders by telling them, “This is clearly an emotional issue for you.” He later stated, “This must be so painful for you.”
While it seemed that the Kreiders knew a lot about the Gosselins, Smith asked, “Are you estranged now from your sister and her husband?” Kevin replied that, “I do talk to Kate and Jon. We haven't seen the kids in awhile, which is hard – but yeah, our relationship has definitely been strained now.”
If “The Early Show” truly wanted to get the facts straight about the Gosselins then they would have had guests who were on closer terms with the Gosselins, instead of using the all of the media hype around the Gosselins. And if CBS were really troubled by the media exploitation of the family, it wouldn't have sold the segment as revealing the “real” Gosselins. So for now, it looks like Gielan is right: the media won't be going away anytime soon.