Blogs > Frye on the News

Keeping his eye on the news and offering commentaries and insights on what is happening in Oakland County, around the world, on the tube and in the news.

Monday, August 5, 2013

Mr. Busted moves on after being busted

Yes, Chris Hansen has not committed any crime.

However, he did savor the act of busting on camera and confronting possible sex offenders, men believing they were going to get it on with a young teenager, someone too young to have sex legally. Interestingly, "To Catch a Predator," blurred the lines between reality TV and journalism, between law enforcement/entrapment and investigative journalism.

I liked the show. It was compelling TV, simply stunning in catching people as they were arrested and exposed publicly. Funny, how the charges in court and arrest is most serious, but for some, it seemed being on TV was the worst part. Talk about the worst of both worlds.

But the entrapment is troubling. Like with drugs, it's OK, it seems, if police buy drugs and arrest the supplier. But when police sell drugs and then arrest the buyer, would a crime have been committed without the police? And what about repeated sales, allowing the buyer to reach a higher platform of sentencing? If they broke the law for real, why allow them to leave and come back later to buy more?

Anyway, Chris Hansen got his as the media was ready for a story of the gotchya reporter getting caught with his hands in the cookie jar, and very busy hands they did seem to be.

Here's a story we had today, as Hansen has finally been chased from NBC:

According to reports, NBC News' host Chris Hansen, who previously worked in Detroit, is leaving the network.
TV Guide first reported the news about Hansen, who has been embroiled in his own sex scandal. His wife caught the popular host in an affair, the HuffingtonPost.com reported. A woman has written an open letter about their affair.
Henson is from Michigan and reported for both WXYZ-7 and WDIV-4 in Detroit before moving to NBC in 1993.
His popular show, "To Catch a Predator," relied on hidden camera videos showcasing a steady stream of men showing up for supposed sexual encounters with young or underage teenagers. The show then highlighted their arrests and even the processing and interviewing of the suspects by detectives.
After a suicide and subsequent lawsuit as well as complaints about the tactics, which scared potential advertisers, however, the segments stopped appearing on "Dateline," despite a win for an Emmy for Hansen.
The cameras then turned onto Hansen and his personal life, culminating in the first-person letter in the National Enquire and a report of an affiar with a stripper.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home