Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Should MTV change its voting system for America's Best Dance Crew?

New York Times ran a story about fairness in competitive reality shows that use fan votes to determine who wins. The premise: "A belief by viewers that their participation is meaningless if they don’t cast votes by the hundreds or thousands could limit their interest in the show, said Susan Murray, an associate professor of media, culture and communication at New York University..."They trust that the system is somehow democratic and not being influenced by one person sending in 10,000 votes at a time.”

The article notes that "Idol rules state that the producers reserve the right to throw out votes if technical enhancements are being used to generate significant blocks. But they refuse to say how many votes — or whether any — have been disqualified."
The article does not specifically mention America's Best Dance Crew, but the same issues can apply. So, is this something that ABDC producers should address for Season 4?