28 August
2006 Chatmag News.
In a skit at the
Emmy Awards, Christ Hansen of Dateline NBC portrayed "himself" conducting
a bust. Conan O'Brien played the part of "Conebone69".
Dateline NBC had
aired a series, "To Catch A Predator", which has publicized the problem
of online predators, and at the same time caused an ethics debate regarding
the "creating of news" rather than reporting of the news.
Dateline NBC,
in conjunction with a renegade online vigilante group, Perverted-Justice.com,
had set up stings in various U.S. locations, using Yahoo! chat rooms as
their hunting ground. Alleged predators were private chatted by members
of Perverted-Justice.com, and enticed into appearing at a house set up
by Dateline NBC. Dateline NBC filmed the arrests, with Chris Hansen "interviewing"
the alleged predators.
Dateline NBC has
been widely criticised for possible journalist ethics violations in reference
to the series, and refuses to answer complaints from journalist scholars
and other critics.
Trivializing the
very real problem of online predators into an Emmy Awards comedy skit will
only add fuel to the fire already building up against both the series,
and Dateline NBC's participation and partnering with a known vigilante
group.
--Chatmag News--
External Links:
Chatmag.com
'Blog. "Chris
Hansen of NBC, The New King of Low.
Chatmag.com
'Blog. "Dateline
“tocatchapredator” NBC."
Chatmag.com
'Blog. "Goodbye,
Dateline NBC. Hello “Perverting Justice-The Series”."
Ethicsscoreboard.com
"Ethics Be Damned: "Dateline" Imitates "Network""
