TVSquad

A new reality show premiering Monday is on a bit more serious quest than giving a D-list celebrity malaria or finding the next pop star. NBC's The Wanted is going after suspected terrorists and war criminals.

The show has already drawn its share of controversy as governmental officials say it could interfere in ongoing criminal and espionage investigations. Media critics are all over it, too -- calling it stunt journalism.

But, NBC is no stranger to such claims. Its investigations into alleged pedophiles on Dateline (To Catch a Predator) went from gritty reporting to police support to sensational pop culture phenomenon.

Back in 2003, were you wondering why the mass media was beating the drum to war in Iraq? I sure as hell was. I was so confused as to why Tom Brokaw would go on David Letterman and advocate a war, and I was stumped as to why the New York Times continued to plaster reasons for war all over its front pages.

Frontline is going to explain it all in a four-part investigative series that I cannot wait to see. Starting next Tuesday (Feb. 13th), the PBS program will investigate the way the Bush White House planted confidential tips in the media and then used subsequent media stories as evidence that America had no choice but to invade Iraq. The first hour "untangles the snarl of events" that show how the Bush administration won approval for the war from the public and the media. The second half of the program, on Feb. 20th, investigates just how much the press can reveal about the government's "war on terror" without putting the nation's security in jeopardy. The other two hours, on Feb. 27th and March 27th, look at the future of journalism in the U.S. and at journalism around the world.