Yesterday word came that NBC had settled a civil lawsuit brought by the sister of Dallas prosecutor Louis William Conradt Jr., who killed himself when police and Dateline's Chris Hansen, along with a camera crew, showed up at his home when he failed to show up for his fake date with a little boy in November 2006. But don't go poking around Dateline's website to brush up on the incident — NBC has all but scrubbed it clean of that entire Perverted Justice investigation. CONTINUED »
Dateline had a certified hit on its hands with "To Catch a Predator," the game-show program where Chris Hansen and Perverted Justice invited would-be kiddie pervs to their camera-laced house, where handcuffs were the door prize. Then Dallas prosecutor Louis William Conradt Jr. had to go and kill himself when NBC's cameras and police officers showed up at his house to arrest him when he failed to show for his sex appointment with a 13-year-old boy, and the backlash ensued: Media moralists' criticism grew louder with calls for lax journalistic ethics and there was the little matter of Conradt's sister Patricia in July suing NBC Universal in a $105 million lawsuit. Now, a resolution. CONTINUED »
Perhaps you saw Chris Hansen's latest undercover camera Dateline show over the weekend. Don't worry, you don't have to lock up your kids this week; in Tricks of the Trade, Hansen went after shady investment "experts" schilling their products to senior citizens, not neighborhood pedophiles.
It wasn't Hansen's strongest series. His whole schtick hung on getting insurance agents to duck questions about penalties that could be incurred if seniors, who could die in the next few years, removed money early from annuity investment accounts. While some of the insurance agents dodged questions or glossed over a few details, none of them outright lied.
But just like To Catch a Predator, where Hansen and Perverted Justice found their project ending up with one of their targets killing himself, Tricks had some of its own maladies. Namely, it appears Hansen is guilty of some misleading of his own.
Misleading viewers, that is. CONTINUED »
Depending on who you ask, NBC News president Steve Capus is either a big baby, or a big baby who had to use the restroom while somebody else picked up a trophy for, effectively, making him look like an ass.
At yesterday's duPont Awards, peacock execs including Capus walked out of the ceremony when Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA won for their story "Television Justice," which exposed the relationship between Dateline's "To Catch a Predator" and the local police involved in their sting operations. This, despite NBC and MSNBC each winning an award.
Sounds like somebody needs a Shelley Ross tequila shot.
If only we had a Slingbox, from the pool in Florida we could instruct our TiVo back home in New York to record Friday's brand new episode of Dateline's "To Catch a Predator." But alas, we'll have to catch it during what we expect to be one of dozens of repeats. The show – which was put on indefinite hold after 56-year-old Texas prosecutor Louis "Bill" Conradt killed himself while Dateline's cameras rolled outside his home, and then snagged NBC a $100 million wrongful death lawsuit – remains a major draw for young viewers, which keeps them ad dollars rolling in. So despite continuing allegations of journalistic wrongdoings and constant battering from the press, the sordid lives of Dateline-watching child predators will commence.
There is a Santa.
Tonight on 20/20, John Stossel's mustache investigates Dateline's "To Catch a Predator." Now the only decision is whether Chris Hansen will be watching from the flat screen in the media room or the small console in the kitchen.
America's favorite entrapment show, To Catch a Predator is feeling a little entrapped itself.
Faced with a multi-million dollar lawsuit and declining ad sales, Dateline has been cutting back on meting out justice by public humiliation to child predators. There’s only been one sting operation this year, compared with seven last year.
(Think of all the-would-be predators surfing the same internet as our children!)
What was once a huge franchise success for NBC's Dateline has quickly snowballed into a PR lynching. "To Catch a Predator" – where hunting for Internet pedophiles becomes a family board game hosted by Chris Hansen – has been churning out new episodes (and sickos) like The Hills does melodrama.
But the show, for all the public awareness it's drumming up, already cost one life (and hooked the network a $100 million wrongful death suit), accusations of severe journalistic ethics breaches, a 3-month-long Esquire investigation (with a coverline suggesting NBC cancel the show), and now: an inquiry from ABC's 20/20, which is said to be sniffing around TCAP with "ambush interviews," as TVNewser relays.
NBC, for what it's worth, remains "proud" of the show and says it doesn't plan on changing the format. Though might we suggest a co-host? CNBC's Erin Burnett has total crossover appeal.
Every time we tune into Dateline's pedophile series, we wonder two things: 1) Is Esquire's argument that NBC should cancel the show before someone else winds up dead a valid stance?; and 2) Can this type of programming survive without Chris Hansen?
At least CNN can answer that second one.
Dateline does more than catch predators: They get caught going undercover at hacker conferences. Michelle Madigan, a producer for the NBC show, tried infiltrating DefCon posing as a regular attendee and not a member of the press, which would have forbade her from videotaping conference-goers without their permission. Instead, a mole at Dateline alerted DefCon organizers about her presence — resulting in a Lindsay Lohan-style chase from the auditorium to her car, filled with unruly photographers and taunting! [Wired]
The sister of a man who killed himself after being exposed as an Internet sicko by Dateline's "To Catch a Predator" wants $100 million from NBC for "sensationaliz[ing] the situation." And making awesome TV.
Matt Lauer is making the press rounds to plug Sunday's Princess Diana concert, which NBC paid $2.5 million for broadcast rights. That deal, of course, did not include an arrangement to have Prince William and Harry sit down for a Dateline chat. "When the concert deal was signed they hadn't even decided they were even going to do an interview," says Lauer. "There was no 'We'll do the concert and we get the boys.'" Mmhmm. Just like when they were going to pay Paris Hilton $1 million for video rights (that they could've likely bought from Splash News) and, lucky them, the just-freed heiress wanted to sit down for an interview … just 'cause.
How ethical is it behind the scenes at NBC's To Catch A Predator? Not very, according to The Smoking Gun.
In fact, excerpts from ousted producer Marsha Bartel's breach of contract lawsuit allege the show "violated 'numerous journalistic ethical standards' and many of the network's own 'policies and guidelines.'"
Bartel charges that many of the program's ethical lapses stem from its relationship with Perverted Justice, a shadowy vigilante group that the show uses to "troll for and lure targets into its sting.'
But, of course, that's not all. CONTINUED »
• Bancroft family to have private meeting re: Dow Jones; Rupert Murdoch to stand outside the boardroom with a water glass pressed against the door.
• Stone Phillips is out at NBC News. Related: Dateline's ratings decline, viewers tuning in to watch The Surreal Life and infomercials for ProActiv instead.
• On the plus side, however, Phillips and his wife have finally unloaded that overpriced penthouse triplex!
• CBS says it led television ratings for fifth year; ABC, NBC respectfully disagree.
• The 1/2 Hour News Hour was the top-rated show on Sunday night, proving once again that Republicans have no sense of humor.
• The accessories director at In Style is quitting her job to open a chintzy trinkets store in Omaha, Nebraska.
Exorbitant contracts at NBC? Those are the first to go, as any cost-cutter goes. Which means that while Brian Williams will stay on collecting his eight-figure sums, Dateline's Stone Phillips, who's been at the network for 15 years, will be on unemployment. When his contract is up in June, Stone will be gone, just like John Seigenthaler's bloated payday. (Seigenthaler was replaced by Lester Holt.)
So who's taking over for Stone? Nobody. Ann Curry (also Today's news anchor) will be the solo host, which means she'll have to shuttle the lead-ins to Chris Hansen's pedophilia reports all by herself.
Editorial Director
