A Better Creep Trap Is Dateline NBC's pedophile series journalism or law enforcement?
Chris Hansen, Dateline NBC
Dateline NBC's investigative series "To Catch a Predator" has given new meaning to the term guilty pleasure. Several times over the past two years, the newsmagazine has set up hidden cameras in private homes to watch as Internet watchdog group Perverted Justice targets men looking to have sex with underage boys and girls. Responding to decoys in online chat rooms, men show up at the houses of their would-be victims with refreshments in hand, thinking they're about to satisfy their creepy urges. Instead, they're confronted by black-turtleneck-clad
Dateline correspondent
Chris Hansen, a camera crew and the realization that they've likely just ruined the rest of their lives. What makes "To Catch a Predator" compelling is how normal some of the suspects look and what respectable jobs they hold — teacher, rabbi, Homeland Security employee. Millions have watched the first three installments, so some of the men even know what they're in for the moment they're confronted by Hansen. The segments have been such an audience draw that NBC is airing new ones every Wednesday at 9 pm/ET through May sweeps. But
Dateline has also drawn some criticism for what looks like a close collaboration between TV journalism and law enforcement. The Biz talked with Hansen about the "TCAP" phenomenon.
TVGuide.com: After the first two "To Catch a Predator" shows aired, the police started getting involved. How did that happen?
Chris Hansen: Perverted Justice got a call from the sheriff's department in Riverside, California, saying that they would like to add another level to this and actually arrest these guys. That worked out well because the only frustrating thing for viewers in the first two [episodes] was that not many of these guys got arrested.
TVGuide.com: And you got complaints about that.
Hansen: We did. In Fairfax County, Virginia, (the location for "To Catch a Predator II") the police department took a lot of heat — and unjustly so — for not moving immediately to arrest these guys. They can't just arrest them based on a television news story and some transcripts from Perverted Justice; they need more than that. That's why working with law enforcement on the third one was a breakthrough. We've done that in Ohio and Florida, too.
TVGuide.com: Have you been subpoenaed?
Hansen: We've received some subpoenas from both sides, but so far we haven't had to give up any outtakes or notes. But the DA offices have ultimately been able to get what they needed from the broadcasts and the interviews that are posted on the Internet.
TVGuide.com: The involvement of law enforcement has raised some eyebrows about the series. What is the controversy about having journalists be part of what amounts to a police sting operation?
Hansen: We try to keep it separate. Perverted Justice performs the role of being the Chinese wall between law enforcement and journalism. We're allowed to do what we need to do as journalists, and the police do what they need to do. A couple of issues have been raised. Is it appropriate to pay Perverted Justice? Well, they can't be expected to do this stuff for free forever. They thought it was fair to get paid, and we entered into a consultant agreement with them just like we do with retired generals who talk with us about the war in Iraq and retired FBI agents who talk with us about the latest crime trends. All we've done is to take the innovative hidden-camera techniques that we used in India to expose child slave labor in the silk business, in Cambodia to expose the child sex trade, and in Bangladesh to expose working conditions in factories that make clothes for Wal-Mart and other stores. It's a new crime and it's changing quickly, and we've had to adapt our reporting measures to cover it.
TVGuide.com: It's very dramatic when the men walk into the house, some even rubbing their hands together, and then you walk in. They think you're the kid's dad.
Hansen: Some [think we're the] the dad, some the police. You're concentrating very hard to be focused and listen to what they say.... I want to generate a conversation. Anyone can jump out of a closet and make somebody startled and run away. What I'm trying to do is get these guys to talk to me, because at a basic level, I really am curious why somebody — who may be a teacher, a businessman, a lawyer or a federal agent — would get up in the morning, walk out of their home and decide, "I'm going to go online today, chat up a 13- or 14-year-old kid and go visit that child to have sex with them." Why does somebody do that? Because I approach it that way, a lot of these guys stay and talk. In Ohio, we had a sixth-grade teacher stay and talk for 40 minutes about his addiction and compulsion. He talks about how the other teachers in the teachers lounge have been talking about the "To Catch a Predator" stories and how they could protect the kids. He'd seen some of the previous stories, and he showed up anyway. This past weekend in Fort Myers, I had a number of men walk in who knew immediately I was Chris Hansen from Dateline NBC and said, "OK, that's the chair where I sit, right? Fine."
TVGuide.com: I'm laughing, which makes me believe one of the challenges in doing this is not to make the program too entertaining. It's a serious and terrible subject, but there are so many elements that are ridiculous.
Hansen: There are obviously moments that are humorous and moments that are profoundly sad. You want to let some of those feelings show. You don't want to let these guys get away with anything, but at the same time you're trying to initiate a dialogue. In Fort Myers, we had a guy who walked into the laundry room, stripped naked and walked into the area where we were set up.... He comes in and is about to open the door, and I open the door and he's standing there buck naked — a church counselor standing there. We wrapped him in a blanket. One guy showed up with his 5-year-old son. I told him I'm not going to interview him with his child next to him and traumatize the kid.
TVGuide.com: How is your physical safety while doing this? Have there been any close calls we haven't seen?
Hansen: No. Some people have gotten mouthy and aggressive. You know the rabbi made an aggressive move in the second one we did. We have security with us. The whole plan is all very detailed and [planned out], so we're protected. It's something we pay a great deal of attention to.
TVGuide.com: Do you think any of these guys want to be caught?
Hansen: I think in some cases they do. In some cases they're relieved. I think that's why they sit and talk sometimes. I don't think some of these guys like themselves. They've had a discussion with themselves saying, "I really ought to get help." It speaks to the addiction and the compulsion. There is no [single] profile. Some have had trauma in their lives as children and they act this way because of it. Some are wired this way and are just bad.
TVGuide.com: Have you seen CriminalDefense.com?
Hansen: Is that the one that's advertising, "If you got busted by Dateline, call us"?
TVGuide.com: Yes.
Hansen: Very clever. And fine, by the way. Everybody deserves his day in court. Just because they show up and get interviewed by me does not mean they're guilty. They should get a vigorous defense.
