2007-12-29
predatory reporting
Am I the only one who finds Dateline/MSNBC's show To Catch a Predator as sleazy and disgusting as the guys they go after? Don't misunderstand this; adults should not be stalking little kids for sex partners. However, watching MSNBC 
correspondent Chris Hansen in action makes me wonder if he's not getting his own jollies from doing this. There is something disturbing and puerile in the whole process. Law enforcement officials should go after sexual predators, but making the arrest process a form of voyeuristic entertainment is, in my mind, just as perverted as those the police are arresting.
Maybe I wouldn't feel so offended were MSNBC to go after - with equal zeal - corporate criminals like former CEO of body-armor manufacturer DHB Industries David Brooks or the slimeballs who tried to profit on the backs of the poor during the subprime mortgage loan scandal.
DHB Industries, [now known as Point Blank Solutions] is the largest supplier of body armor to the U.S. military, having shipped more than 1.3 million Interceptor vests since 1999. However, the product suffered test failures in 2005, prompting the Marine Corps to switch to a different supplier earlier this year.
I realize that little children who have been coerced or conned into having sex with adults can very likely be traumatizing for the kids, and, as a society we need to do what we can to protect vulnerable children from that.
But having a loved one in the military injured or killed because of shoddy protective equipment is traumatizing too the families as well.
Moms and dads - along with their innocent children - who get evicted because they can no longer afford to be gouged by predatory [and immoral] lenders - can be every bit as traumatic, and affect a much larger number of the American citizenry, than the harm these child molesters that MSNBC would apparently rather have us pay attention to that we could in learning about the horrors these fiscal predators wreak upon their victims.
I'd watch those busts of corporate criminal predators with a greater degree of satisfaction. I remain skeptical that the main stream media would even consider such a programming partnership with the appropriate level of constabulary supports. I'm more apt to believe that there are only certain kinds of predators that the main stream media want us to remain focused upon.
UPDATE: #-1 My only experience seeing a corporate predator doing the perp walk was when John Rigas, the former head of Adelphia Communications, "...was arrested and charged with looting the cable TV company of hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for luxury condos, a golf course, and to cover personal losses". The criminal complaint against Rigas, alleged that he engaged in fraud and criminal self-dealing and that he and other family members "looted Adelphia on a massive scale, using the company as the Rigas family's personal piggy bank, at the expense of public investors and creditors."
Ironically, John Rigas' perp walk, shown on TV, took place the same day I got my monthly cable bill from Adelphia with an announcement that it was raising its "rates to cover necessary expenses." I'll bet.
UPDATE: #-2 Mr. Hansen's reportage has not always been that squeaky clean. In November 2006 Hansen and the camera crew from his film group [Perverted Justice] were on-site when a suspect, Louis William "Bill" Conradt, Jr. a district attorney from Texas, committed suicide prior to police coming to arrest him. Hansen initially denied that he or his crew were onsite, but staff from Esquire Magazine confronted him about his involvement in the entrapment and arrest of the man.
Police told Esquire Magazine reporters that they would not have served the warrant with camera crews rolling and did not know they were there.
Because of this, and other incidents, Hansen has been accused of either colluding with police departments [presumably to get footage] or even pressuring police departments to conduct sting arrests. If this were the case, it is all the more disturbing that a civilian might so manipulate legal authorities just to get exciting footage for a quasi-pornographic tv show. According to an entry about Hansen on Wikipedia, Hansen angrily denies ever colluding with police departments to make arrests.
correspondent Chris Hansen in action makes me wonder if he's not getting his own jollies from doing this. There is something disturbing and puerile in the whole process. Law enforcement officials should go after sexual predators, but making the arrest process a form of voyeuristic entertainment is, in my mind, just as perverted as those the police are arresting.Maybe I wouldn't feel so offended were MSNBC to go after - with equal zeal - corporate criminals like former CEO of body-armor manufacturer DHB Industries David Brooks or the slimeballs who tried to profit on the backs of the poor during the subprime mortgage loan scandal.
DHB Industries, [now known as Point Blank Solutions] is the largest supplier of body armor to the U.S. military, having shipped more than 1.3 million Interceptor vests since 1999. However, the product suffered test failures in 2005, prompting the Marine Corps to switch to a different supplier earlier this year.
I realize that little children who have been coerced or conned into having sex with adults can very likely be traumatizing for the kids, and, as a society we need to do what we can to protect vulnerable children from that.
But having a loved one in the military injured or killed because of shoddy protective equipment is traumatizing too the families as well.
Moms and dads - along with their innocent children - who get evicted because they can no longer afford to be gouged by predatory [and immoral] lenders - can be every bit as traumatic, and affect a much larger number of the American citizenry, than the harm these child molesters that MSNBC would apparently rather have us pay attention to that we could in learning about the horrors these fiscal predators wreak upon their victims.
I'd watch those busts of corporate criminal predators with a greater degree of satisfaction. I remain skeptical that the main stream media would even consider such a programming partnership with the appropriate level of constabulary supports. I'm more apt to believe that there are only certain kinds of predators that the main stream media want us to remain focused upon.
UPDATE: #-1 My only experience seeing a corporate predator doing the perp walk was when John Rigas, the former head of Adelphia Communications, "...was arrested and charged with looting the cable TV company of hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for luxury condos, a golf course, and to cover personal losses". The criminal complaint against Rigas, alleged that he engaged in fraud and criminal self-dealing and that he and other family members "looted Adelphia on a massive scale, using the company as the Rigas family's personal piggy bank, at the expense of public investors and creditors."Ironically, John Rigas' perp walk, shown on TV, took place the same day I got my monthly cable bill from Adelphia with an announcement that it was raising its "rates to cover necessary expenses." I'll bet.
UPDATE: #-2 Mr. Hansen's reportage has not always been that squeaky clean. In November 2006 Hansen and the camera crew from his film group [Perverted Justice] were on-site when a suspect, Louis William "Bill" Conradt, Jr. a district attorney from Texas, committed suicide prior to police coming to arrest him. Hansen initially denied that he or his crew were onsite, but staff from Esquire Magazine confronted him about his involvement in the entrapment and arrest of the man.
Police told Esquire Magazine reporters that they would not have served the warrant with camera crews rolling and did not know they were there.
Because of this, and other incidents, Hansen has been accused of either colluding with police departments [presumably to get footage] or even pressuring police departments to conduct sting arrests. If this were the case, it is all the more disturbing that a civilian might so manipulate legal authorities just to get exciting footage for a quasi-pornographic tv show. According to an entry about Hansen on Wikipedia, Hansen angrily denies ever colluding with police departments to make arrests.
Labels: criminal justice, exploitation, predators, sensationalism
¶ 02:17
Comments:
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Wow, politicizing the news by wanting them to go after your little pet projects. "Oh, I hate those white collar criminals more than pedophiles! Poor pedophiles!"
Grow up.
Grow up.
# posted by 
: 31 December, 2007 13:37
: 31 December, 2007 13:37
Anonymous [who apparently lacks the honesty and conviction to identify him or her self] totally misses my point. By all means, the police should be going after pedophiles.
But civilians, like Mr. Hansen, has no legal authority so to do. Using his program and the tacit backing of corporate giant MSNBC to take on his pet project is reprehensible. This is one step away from vigilante justice.
As for "pet projects" and corporate criminals, they need to be sought after, apprehended and pay for their crimes.
I find it intriguing that an organization with the resources to actually go after such creeps - is unwilling or disinclined so to do.
Growing up, incidentally, woulod mean that one is mature enough to putr their name to a comments post, especially when questions the motives of the original poster.
But civilians, like Mr. Hansen, has no legal authority so to do. Using his program and the tacit backing of corporate giant MSNBC to take on his pet project is reprehensible. This is one step away from vigilante justice.
As for "pet projects" and corporate criminals, they need to be sought after, apprehended and pay for their crimes.
I find it intriguing that an organization with the resources to actually go after such creeps - is unwilling or disinclined so to do.
Growing up, incidentally, woulod mean that one is mature enough to putr their name to a comments post, especially when questions the motives of the original poster.
One final note, Hansen's program is an "entertainment" show. It s not a news program.
I for one find no pleasure in watching as-yet-uncaught pedophiles, learn more tricks.
Hansen is a civilian, with no legal authority, unlike the police. His preening manner after catching someone that he and his film company [oddly called Perverted Justice] have entrapped, should not be presented as some twisted entertainment show, which is what it is.
Pedophiles certainly should not be trying to lure 13 year old kids for sex, but civilians with no legal authority should not be engaged in entrapment for entertainment purposes either.
Anonymous totally misses the point.
I for one find no pleasure in watching as-yet-uncaught pedophiles, learn more tricks.
Hansen is a civilian, with no legal authority, unlike the police. His preening manner after catching someone that he and his film company [oddly called Perverted Justice] have entrapped, should not be presented as some twisted entertainment show, which is what it is.
Pedophiles certainly should not be trying to lure 13 year old kids for sex, but civilians with no legal authority should not be engaged in entrapment for entertainment purposes either.
Anonymous totally misses the point.
The world is not black and white, although Mr Hansen's show would have you think otherwise. Pedophiles should be punished handsomely for their crimes, but Mr Hansen's show is more salacious than Cops & Cheaters put together and not in any way qualified as the public opinion judge and jury they are.
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