Fun With Pedophiles: NBC Willing To Do Pretty Much Whatever It Takes To Catch A Predator

Fun With Pedophiles: NBC Willing To Do Pretty Much Whatever It Takes To Catch A Predator
There is perhaps no better example of exploitation television than Dateline NBC's ongoing To Catch a Predator series: It's voyeuristic humilitainment in its purest form, in which correspondent Chris Hansen (who wrote a book about his ongoing moral crusade, along with co-author, Deep Denial) ambushes adult men on camera who are lured to homes over the internet on the pretense of having sex with a minor. Producer Marsha Bartel, a 21-year NBC news veteran, claims she was unfairly terminated by the network after bringing up the many ethical and legal lapses involved in setting up the stings--particularly those committed by NBC's partner in the operation, shadowy "watchdog group" Perverted Justice, who are paid for their services. In a lawsuit brought against the network, Bartel outlines all the dirty tricks it takes to bring the public its primetime pedophiliac fun. From The Smoking Gun:

According to Bartel, by paying Perverted Justice, NBC has given the group a "financial incentive to lie to trick targets of its sting." The identities of the group's 50-plus volunteers were kept secret from her, Bartel says, adding that Perverted Justice does not provide "complete transcripts from its trolling operations," so network officials "cannot independently verify the accuracy" of the group's transcripts. In some instances, Bartel claims, sting targets are "led into additional acts of humiliation (such as being encouraged to remove their clothes) in order to enhance the comedic effect of the public exposure of these persons."
She also charges that NBC has unethically covered up the fact that law enforcement officials have acted improperly while working in conjunction with the "To Catch a Predator" crew, such as "goofing off by waving rubber chickens in the faces of sting targets while forcing them to the ground and handcuffing them." Bartel says that when she "raised concerns" about controversial comments made by Perverted Justice's founder, David Corvo, executive producer of the newsmagazine "Dateline," responded, "We all know they're nuts."

The series already has one suicide under its belt: Louis "Bill" Conradt Jr., a former Texas D.A., shot himself in the head last November once he realized the 13-year-old boy he thought he had come to meet was really just a set-up*. Of course, the network could always defend the incident, arguing they successfully took a potentially dangerous child predator off the streets--though it seems a shame the suicide came before the "Hi, I'm Chris Hansen. Why don't you have a seat?" portion of the proceedings, depriving themk of some priceless footage of the mark shifting nervously on a kitchen stool, before exiting the premises to be tackled by hammy law enforcement who can't resist taunting their quarry with some rubber novelty poultry once the cameras are turned off.

*Dateline's cameras never made contact with Conradt, but were moments away from doing that, waiting across the street.
Published 5/29/07 by


Defamer

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