Speaking of journalism, Dateline NBC, the same folks who brought us the rigged exploding crash test, has crossed another line.
"Dateline's ongoing hidden camera investigation into computer sex predators--grown men, trolling the Web for sex with minors. This time, police are making arrests..." the MSNBC subhead for "To Catch a Predator III" announces.
Good. Damned perverts deserve to be crucified. If it was my kids, I'd gut 'em like a trout.
Which is hardly the point. By partnering with law enforcement to engineer arrests, "correspondent" (why not "undercover deputy"?) Chris Hansen has shed the role of journalist and taken on that of police investigator. A key function of a free press--although you wouldn't know it from the preponderance of "gun control" and other state-worshipping editorials--is to act as a watchdog against abuse of power, not as a guard dog alerting civil authority to misdeeds.
And it's not like NBC affiliates haven't partnered with such authority before.
If the ratings are good--and the "cause" is certainly one that elicits public interest and sympathy--why not expand the concept to other crimes?
How about if they have the cops waiting while they host a gambling sting, or entrap Johns with prostitutes, or--I know--set up a drug bust. I mean, nobody likes those crackheads, right?
No? Still too many in the "conservative gun owner" camp who think these wretches get what they deserve?
Good, because if ratings reward the concept, advertising revenues will grow. Once the networks--and why not newspapers, too?--see how profitable it is to partner with police, there's no limit to how far this can be exploited.
What does it take to elevate the threat level so it even appears on our radar as a concern? Do we need to have our ox gored by the police/reporter alliance?
What if the promo read:
"Dateline's ongoing hidden camera investigation into Second Amendment fanatics who purchase firearms in defiance of sensible gun laws. This time, police are making arrests...."
It's not the same thing? It doesn't need to be. Once we establish that the proper role of journalists is to facilitate arrests for lawbreaking, we will have lost a key independent check and balance over authority. A partnership of private journalists with the state is a hybrid that needs to be exposed for what it is: fascist propaganda.
No matter how "good" the cause.
Or we can not care, watch the shows with voyeuristic fascination, tell ourselves that the end justifies the means...
Maybe in a few years, we'll get to see Geraldo or some clone actually slap the cuffs on the perp, hand him over to a cop, look into the camera and end the show with an authoritative "Book him!"
Tags: NBC, police
Sunday, February 05, 2006
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