Arbitration & Mediation

Is anyone else disturbed by the idea of a ?Judge Judy? style mediation TV show?

By Christopher Annunziata

This morning I found a post in my news alert advertising mediation domain names for sale. As I poked around further on the site, I found the following post:

Cases Needed for TV Show

For a new mediation-themed reality show, we’re looking for “Judge Judy” types of cases in Southern California — involving neighbors or family members or co-workers or a retailer-customer conflict or a landlord-tenant dispute or, well, you get the idea. If you know of such a situation, and the parties are willing to waive confidentiality in exchange for having their dispute settled for free, please let us know.

Does this disturb anyone else?  Reality shows, whether in a courtroom, a hermetically sealed house or a desert island, thrive on conflict and confrontation, two of the very things that we are taught as mediators to avoid so that the parties can reach an agreement.  This is ridiculous.

Full post as published by CKA Mediation and Arbitration Services Blog on May 12, 2008 (boomark / email).