It's a start... [img]graemlins/blueblink.gif[/img]
Country Bans Big Brother
Moses Serugo
Kampala
Big Brother Africa has been taken off the air in Malawi after the country's parliament condemned it as immoral.
A report on the BBC Web site yesterday said that Malawi's parliament voted to ban the pan-African reality series from its public TV station because of concerns about its sexual content.
The Malawian action follows a number of complaints the chairman of Malawi's parliamentary committee on the media said he had received, particularly from parents.
Mr Taylor Nothale said most Malawians felt the show might encourage young people to engage in immoral behaviour.
"People are subjected to horrible pictures which are corrupting the morals of our children," Mr Nothale said.
Ugandan housemate Gaetano Kaggwa and South Africa's Abby Plaatjes have been sexually intimate a number of times.
The opposition leader, Mr Gwanda Chakuamba, was quoted to have said: "We want the government to stop that nonsense on TV."
Most of Malawi's 10.6 million people are deeply conservative Christians.
It also has a Muslim minority.
Malawi has become the third African nation to condemn the series following concerns raised by Namibia's President Sam Nujoma and religious leaders in Zambia.
Big Brother Africa originally featured 12 contestants, each from a different African country, locked together inside the Big Brother house in Johannesburg.
There are now eight housemates left in the house.
They have complained that some of the footage broadcast is too explicit.
State-run Television Malawi has been broadcasting highlights of the South Africa-based show every evening.
Malawi had a contestant, Mr Zein Dudah, who was evicted a month ago.
"If [the show] didn't generate any controversy, the project would be a failure," Big Brother producer Carl Fischer told the BBC.
Rich Malawians will, however, still be able to watch the show on satellite television.
All kidding aside, maybe a good opportunity to discuss "reality" shows like Survivor and Big Brother. Are they really immoral, or just pedestrian entertainment not worth the trouble? And for those who actually like it, why? [img]graemlins/wow.gif[/img]
