Rou

To catch a predator is a set of 'investigative reports' run by NBC Dateline. Basically, they film an incident where a sting operation is run on someone online in the hopes of catching pedophiles trying to find kids to have sex with. In a sad statement on our society, they seem to be pretty successful.

All and all, a noble idea. Fewer people out there trying to molest children is a good thing. Bravo, bonus points, and kudos.

But you know what, the show is just wrong, in my opinion.

Something in my brain has a hard time wrapping my head around turning this sort of police activity (the people involved are not police for the most part) into a spectator sport. In many ways, this is worse than shows like Cops because of it's focus on the sexuality of the 'minors'. Once they come and get the guy, they go through a Q&A section on camera where they review what they guy said online. They make sure to point out the fairly graphic (for broadcast TV) descriptions of sexual activities and positions.

It's supposed to come off as forcing the predator to admit to his crime, but it seems overly focused on the naughty bits to me. While I'm sure this is good for ratings, I find it kind of skeevy even if the 'children' involved are adults posing as jail bait.

To be honest, I think the entire show is a bit dodgy. First, they set it up to bring the guy in. Some people have gone so far as to say their methodology is borderline entrapment, but without the full transcripts, it's impossible to tell. They guy shows up, they bring him into the house, and they interview this guy. His lawyer isn't there. Face isn't blurred (at least not in the few segments I've seen parts of). I don't even know if he's been officially arrested or read his rights at this point. But there he is right there on camera. Anything he says will damn sure be used against him. It's damn sure not softball questions.

The problem is that all of this occurs outside of the justice system. The predator is thrown in front of public opinion long before the court system has finished with them. They present all of the evidence in a very one-sided manner. It may be true, but it's certainly not part of a fair justice system.

Is the overall goal good? Sure. I just don't think catching pedophiles should be used to boost commercial sales. I think the show is tasteless, crass, and asinine. It peddles it's wares to the lowest portion of the viewers psyche and then tries to pretend as if it's doing it for lofty noble reasons. It's not. It's all about ratings. The presentation of the segment and it's focus on the lewd and vulgar commentary drives that point home for me. Police work just shouldn't be a spectacle presented to viewers.

To be fair, most of these points are true of Cops and similar crime documentaries as well. I don't enjoy / watch them either. The nature and presentation of this just seems far more blatant and distasteful to me.