TVSquad

I see this as something needed. Predator goes too far, people who may never have actually gone through with this in real life are being entrapped for the purpose of television ratings. In a way they are creating criminals. I know this analogy is kinda lame but it's sort of like Minority Report, I think most of these guys would never do these acts but Predator comes along and allows things to go further than just chatting. I'm not looking past the stupidity of the guys caught but it just doesn't feel 100% right to me to trap people in this way.

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This seems like an important story to me. If the Murphy police dept and Nightline did something wrong, than 20/20 has every right to report on it. Also, I think you mean SUV, not SVU.

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Are you kidding? The responsibility of a journalist is to uncover the truth. (Although these days I can see how you'd forget.) Dateline's "Catch a Predator" series is slanted, sensationalized, and staged. I'm shocked it's taken this long for another network to dig through the muck and expose them.

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I agree with Jameson - "To Catch a Predator" was alright once, maybe twice as a followup, but it's just sick to keep going. It's good to see another news organization bringing up the show's flaws. (Lord knows if I do it, I'm labeled as "enabling pedophiles" or whatever)

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While I dig what To Catch a Predator is trying to accomplish, it's also entrapment, not to mention it goes outside the bounds of legality. Since it's on TV and catches pedophiles, a lot of that stuff is overlooked because it's seemingly for the greater good.

I don't take this as ABC taking a dig at NBC or the program, I believe that ABC is just trying to get journalists to do what they should do and that's investigate. If the piece turns out to be all slander and conjecture, then I'll eat my words.

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Hasn't this been the rap all along with the Perverted Justice guys, since long before they hooked up with NBC, that the sensationalism and public humiliation actually gets in the way of convicting these weirdos?

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Predator is soooo boring now that I've seen it twice. That show is all about ratings I don't care what they say about helping the public...

http://www.hiddenonlinedeals.blogspot.com

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What journalistic purpose does Predator serve? There's no news beyond the first installment. There's no investigating. It's just entertainment. The fact that it gets ratings doesn't make it journalism. I don't see what ratings has to with anything.

If 20/20 doesn't investigate, then who should? Why aren't they the right format?

I'm predicting that Dateline will hardly get mentioned in the 20/20 piece. Why give publicity to a competitor after all? It sounds like the piece will mainly be about the suspect who killed himself, and Dateline is just part of that story.

Scott
http://www.sacksofwetcement.com

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I'm on Dateline's side, the guy obviously knew he was a creep.

Plus 20/20 has not been very fair. Matthew SHepard was a gay college student who was tortured by two homophobic assholes who should be in jail forever. 20/20 tried to screw all the facts up and make it seem like these sickos were just acting out because they themselves were gay. I will NEVER listen to any trash that 20/20 will try to pass as fact again.

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i see this as a long overdue comeuppance for Dateline. They have a very sketchy track record, including staged vehicle explosions, sensationalist entrapment, and the latest failed undercover attempted outing of an FBI agent at a hackers convention. What all these escapades have in common is invented or inflated controversies chosen to exploit the public's paranoia. Is ABC significantly better? At this point i don't care, as long as Dateline is knocked of its pedestal.

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Varun,
If you don't think that one news organization should go after another in cases where there may be wrong doing who do you think should? The government can't police news organizations because of the 1st Amendment.

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Oreo, whether you are on "Dateline's side" or not, the whole business of the Bill Conradt Jr. stank like last month's catch of the day. The guy doesn't go to the so-called "sting house" (for whatever reason) so the Dateline producers and the cops go to his home. The cops don't have either a search warrant or an arrest warrant or viable grounds to get either so anything that is accomplished by this "visit" would get thrown out of court if he had a halfway competent lawyer. They're just lucky that he turned the gun on himself instead of on them. This show and its running buddies at Perverted Justice are playing fast and loose with the legal system and should be recognised as the sort of vigilantes who cause far more problems than they resolve.

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I don't know... it sounds kind of like 20/20 desperately trying to stay relevent to me...

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If you are interested in reading more about the Perverted-Justice/Dateline fiascos, visit www.corrupted-justice.com.

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20/20 is just jealous. Had they approached Perverted Justice first they would be the ones with a hit series and be responsible for educating the masses of this epidemic.

As for the Rolling Stone article being "even handed"... hardly. The whole story was 1 sided and left out important information that would have put parts of the story in context.

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Whether or not 20/20 is trying to snag ratings from Dateline, which seems unlikely, it will be intresting to see what their stance is. Perverted Justice is a malignant organization of zealots that are using sensationalism to create a scare tactic in the nation. Dateline is only further enabling the public's mass hysteria. Chris Hansen's career has skyrocketed at the cost of how many lives? At least one suicide, and how many years will people do behind bars? I'm not pro-pedophilia, not by any means, but this "show" is morally wrong. They've twisted the 1st Amendment into a shield that they cower behind, and it sickens me.

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I was wondering if you could give me some info. on a show stone phillips did on 20 20 about sixty days ago about internet poker cheators that can look at other peoples cards and make the cards to change with the flop, turn and river?

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Saying that 20/20 is jealous sounds so familiar. A thread at PJ is full of that bull except it was about a network itself. Jealously is for children and those who accuse others of it are also behaving like children themselves. I am sure that 20/20 (who by the way is very professional and a true news media and been around since 1978, as opposed to Dateline in 1992) will at least inform the public about the truth and put questions as to PJ/Dateline's credibility and real worth.


And remember. Just because it isnt endorsed by Perverted-Justice or Dateline does not mean it is worthless.

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Brian Ross should retire and move to Italy to live with Cardinal Bernard Law of the Boston Archdiocese...they have a lot in common.

In the words of John Stossel...GIVE ME A BREAK!

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the almighty youtube has the full episode of 20/20 Exposé :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyUImLx1BQQ

Chris Hansen should be really ashamed of himself
http://www.esquire.com/print-this/hansen-transcript

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