TLC Silent on Status of "19 Kids and Counting"
BLACKWELL: -- TLC, struggling still with what to do about the show "19 Kids & Counting". It pulled episodes of the show after it was revealed that the eldest son, Josh Duggar, molested several girls, including his sisters, when he was a teenager. Even after advertisers dropped out, TLC is still silent about the show's fate. Let's bring in CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter. He's joining us now. Brian -- we've seen with several shows whether it's sexual abuse or racially-insensitive comment, these networks move quickly. They may change their opinion or their decision later, but why haven't we heard something definitive from TLC?</s>BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: This is a very difficult situation for TLC -- Victor. For some reasons that we haven't really thought about, I think. You know, for one thing, the show is not currently in production which means there's no camera crews following around the Duggars right now. So the network doesn't have to make a decision right away, you know. Because it's not in production, they don't have anything to "cancel", quote/unquote. They will however at some point probably decide not to resume production. That's what it comes down to -- a decision not to ever send the camera crews back out to the Duggars to follow them around in the future. I'm told by sources close to the show that that's probably going to happen. The show is over, but TLC doesn't want to say so publicly. They don't want to actually make the announcement or the decision because it is going to create waves and create further controversy. You know, for all the people they will please by canceling the show, they're going to disappoint other people. They're going to disappoint fans of the Duggars that want to see the family supported during this crisis.</s>BLACKWELL: Much like we saw that backlash after "Duck Dynasty" was pulled --</s>STELTER: Yes.</s>BLACKWELL: -- and then that came back. Let's talk about Hulu, the streaming video service that dropped all the episodes of "19 Kids & Counting" -- all the Duggar shows from their programming. That was in consultation with TLC. You spoke with an executive there, which side initiated that?</s>STELTER: Yes, Hulu's CEO said he was in talks with TLC and that's why they took the show off line. It's sort of a digital age problem right. When a show becomes controversial, you can take it off your schedule but you also have to take it off the Internet. So that's what they did in this case. But they said it was only for the time being and, again, leaving the door open to the show coming back at some time. I think what happens in these cases is, these shows or these brands become political fights. They become red and blue issues. You have a lot of blue sort of commentators. A lot of progressives or a lot of progressive-minded Web sites saying why hasn't the show been canceled yet? But then on the other side, you have some red type commentators, you have Christian conservative evangelicals that have loved this family for years and has supported this family for years that don't want to see them further penalized by taking the show off the air for a long time. As you know, it's off the air right now and advertisers don't want to be associated with it. But to abandon the Duggars entirely could turn off some of TLC's core supporters which, you know, tend to live in red states, tend to live in the heartland. So there is that tension that TLC has to grapple with. Of course, there's obviously business ramifications, but also there's cultural ramifications.</s>BLACKWELL: With all this going on, I understand there is potentially a spinoff that is being considered?</s>STELTER: That is exactly where this all wind up getting us to. You think about all the issues they face. You think about the pros and cons of canceling or keeping the show. And the most logical outcome is probably a spinoff. The most logical outcome might be just to have the kids featured. Do a spinoff of "19 Kids & Counting" with just a few of the kids as they're starting their own families and that's a way to distance the show from Josh Duggar and from the parents while still creating the relationship with the Duggar family while still keeping a popular show on the air and while still keeping TLC in business with the show. You know, one point executives made to me is TLC has had a relationship with the Duggars for years. They don't want to appear to be abandoning them or penalizing them further in this situation. So by butting out for the time being and not making any decisions they are allowing themselves the ability to go ahead announce that spinoff some time in the future.</s>BLACKWELL: All right. CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter. Brian -- thank you.</s>STELTER: Thanks.</s>PAUL: Listen, our next guest is a survivor of abuse and a staunch advocate for education to prevent it. Erin Merryn wrote the book "An Unimaginable Act". She also knows the Duggars. The invited her into their home to talk to their kids about Erin's law. That's her initiative to get education about abuse into schools and she's been very successful at it. Almost half the states in the country now have signed on to it. So, Erin, thank you so much for being with us. Help us understand when you were brought in to talk to the Duggars about abuse, what was that experience like for you and then what did you -- how did you feel when you heard about these allegations?</s>ERIN MERRYN, CHILD ABUSE SURVIVOR: It was a very positive experience. They had heard me speak at a conference and asked me that night will you come into our homes and talk about Erin's law teaching kids about personal body safety, to speak up and tell if you've been abused. So I sat there for two hours talking to their kids about this. And their hope was to help me bring my message into home schooling families. My law requires public schools Pre-K to 12th grade to teach kids personal body safety. And so it doesn't reach the homeschoolers. So they were talking about ideas on how to bring this message to national conferences on homeschooling, getting me in front of some of these people. So it was a positive experience. So, when I heard about this, I was shocked, but at the same time, you know, 93 percent of the time children are abused by someone they know and trust. No, it isn't often that stranger danger we talk so much about in society. The reality is we need to talk to kids about the people we know and trust that can hurt you and that you don't keep this a secret if it's ever happened to you.</s>PAUL: So what is the one thing do you think we can teach our kids to help them, empower them to speak up? What is the one thing they need to know?</s>MERRYN: Kids need to know that the differences between safe touch, unsafe touch; safe secrets, unsafe secrets. That the areas covered by your swimsuit if anybody ever touches you there, anybody, that you report it to an adult and you keep speaking up, this is not your fault. You're not to blame and you will be believed.</s>PAUL: You know, one of the things that I think is so perplexing about this situation with the Duggars is the fact that, you know, as a parent -- every parent who's heard about this and who were fans of them think what do you do as a family when you have one child or more than one child who is a victim and yet your other child is the accused, is the abuser? I mean we love all of our children. How do you deal with that?</s>MERRYN: Yes, well, I tell people right now that try to put yourself as a parent in their shoes. What if this was your son or daughter that had done this to a sibling? You know, it wouldn't be easy at all. You love all your children. In this situation I tell any parent if this happens, go to the authorities. Get your child help. The one and most important thing is to get them help and, honestly, remove them from the home. If this happened to my kids, I love my kids but I would not allow that family member back into the home. It just would not be safe.</s>PAUL: You actually wrote a great article about how you won't let your daughter go on sleepovers even at family's home because that's where you were violated as well.</s>MERRYN: No.</s>PAUL: So that was a really good point. You can find that online, too. Erin, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate your voice in this.</s>MERRYN: Thank you, thank you for having me.</s>PAUL: Of course. Victor.</s>BLACKWELL: Thanks, Christi. Another animal cruelty controversy for an NFL team: a player is cut from his team after being charged with killing his ex-girlfriend's dog. 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