Sources tell us ... Kris and his lawyer, Lee Hutton, want to "expose the M.O. of reality TV" by proving Kim had no intention of staying married to him, but just wanted big ratings for her reality show.

Now here's the irony. The duo wants to prove their point by asking the judge to allow TMZ and TV stations to broadcast the trial -- something that the judge might find a tad hypocritical ... not that we're complaining.

TMZ broke the story ... Kim filed for divorce on grounds of "irreconcilable differences." Kris has countered that he wants the marriage annulled based on fraud.`

Kris has a couple of problems with the fraud claim. First of all, he's the one who proposed. Second, the publicity has made him famous and marketable and he'll make millions more than he would have otherwise.