On a fall day in 2006, a small-town Texas county prosecutor named Bill Conradt raised a loaded Browning .380 handgun to his temple, pulled the trigger, and ended his life at 56 years. Before him stood a SWAT team from a local police department that had just barged into his home after he did not answer several knocks at his door. Outside the home, film crews from NBC Dateline's controversial To Catch A Predator program were waiting, hoping to get the arrest on tape and allow host Chris Hansen the chance to grill Conradt about explicit online chats he is said to have had with a decoy posing as a teenage boy. Instead they soon found out that Conradt had taken his own life. There would be no chance to grill him.
To Catch a Predator has been a hit among viewers. A big hit. And that means plenty of cash rolling in at NBC. In fact, the "Predator" segments averaged about 800,000 more viewers in 2006-2007 than other Dateline programs, according to a recent Times article. But in a race for ratings, has a news organization sacrificed its journalistic independence and done more harm than good in the process? I think, on both counts, NBC most certainly has.
For those who haven't seen the show, this is how it works: NBC pays a watchdog group called Perverted Justice to set up a sting operation where members of the group pose in online chat rooms as underage teens. When a man starts hitting on the fake teen, Perverted Justice saves the transcripts and the decoy invites the guy over to a house rented by NBC for a liaison. Some men show up, a female or male actor poses as the child, and then Hansen pops out of hiding and interrogates the men about their online chats. The men soon flee, but are arrested outside by overzealous local police officers with guns drawn. Is this show of force really needed? I can't imagine why.
In Esquire's September issue, writer Luke Dittrich delves into the story behind the story of Conradt's suicide. It's a fascinating read, in which a police officer says that Hansen urged the Murphy Police Department to get arrest and search warrants on a Sunday morning so Hansen could get a shot at Conradt before he had to leave town. Conradt never showed up for the liaison the day before, but Hansen still wanted him because a prosecutor being arrested would certainly make good TV, the story claims. Hansen denied this in an interview with Dittrich, but I don't buy it. Why else would the police be in such a rush to nab this guy? They knew where he worked and could have arrested him without incident on Monday.
If the accusations against Conradt are in fact true -- that he possessed child pornography (NBC says he did) and was soliciting a minor for sex -- then he indeed deserved whatever legal repercussions came his way. Maybe he would have been found guilty, sentenced to prison time and therapy, got the help he needed and turned his life around. But those decisions should be sorted out in detectives' offices at local police precincts or in a court of law. Not on a TV news magazine broadcast.
I don't have any problems with sting operations when conducted by law enforcement -- that's their job. But when they are carried out or influenced by a news organization hungry for ratings, a recipe for disaster emerges. Sure the show has led to a couple hundred arrests and at least one conviction, but a man lost his life in the process. A man that could have been innocent. We'll never know. Conradt's sister has filed a lawsuit against NBC, and hopefully they will have to pay up. But that's not the only result that should come out of this. The cover of the September Esquire issue says it all: "A Plea To NBC: Cancel To Catch A Predator Before Someone Dies Again."
Related Stories: | Topics:Management, media, NBC Universal Inc., Chris Hansen, Police, Luke Dittrich, United States |
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Recent Comments | 6 Total
October 9, 2007 at 6:53pm by BeLynda Smith
Because child molestation has such horrific effects on children for years to come, even into adulthood, I encourage more such shows. Anything we can do to stop this outrageous behavior has to be done. Child molesters need to be branded as such and publicly so. Children are not the dispensible commodity that so many people seem to think they are. If my children were online & told by some 56 year old man that he was 14 or whatever the case may be, I would want all the news organizations to be on his front steps to point the guy out.
October 9, 2007 at 7:33pm by Jackson Smith
Wow, timely piece. Very impressive that you're on the cutting edge of covering this. I only read about it in Rolling Stone, Esquire and every other website months ago.
You also don't mention that the police had other search warrants to serve that day after Conradt. Of course, you don't mention it because the Esquire piece doesn't mention it. The Esquire piece does mention that no KP was found on his compu... oh wait, the forensics report from the Texas Rangers found KP on Conradt's computer. Yeah, not NBC saying he did, but a law enforcement investigation.
Of course, where's your outrage over this story?
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071009/NEWS05/71009026...
Oh woe, another "innocent" guy who killed himself. Have fun writing your next weak blog defending those who choose to commit suicide rather than face the justice system. Nice.
October 10, 2007 at 1:41am by A Realist
Sure, I hate predators as much as the next person... But you make a good point. There's a reason this country was founded on the idea that one is innocent, until PROVEN guilty.
When we decide to ignore that, we put ourselves in a VERY dangerous position -- and endanger EVERYONE in the process (remember, that same attitude is what got us into Iraq...one of the biggest mistakes in our country's history...). I still cringe when I remember one of our enlightened politicians saying, regarding WMDs, "Absence of proof isn't necessarily proof of absence."
We've all just spent the past 5 years being reminded that sometimes, it is.
We should learn from our mistakes before more people are sacrificed on the altar of our fear.
October 10, 2007 at 12:04pm by Matthew Finkelstein
To Catch A Predator has taken pedophilia and turned it into entertainment for profit. I find this disgusting, regardless of whether the show is directly responsible for Conradt's death. If the show donated it's advertising revenue (and Chris Hansen's salary) to charities supporting abused children, I might believe they were more interested in helping people than cashing in on their very serious problems. I agree with Jason, cancel TCAP.
October 10, 2007 at 10:24pm by Wampa1
TCAP only worsens the irrational stranger danger fear already too pervasive in this country. Children are far more likely to be abused by a relative or familial friend than by a stranger.
But "To Catch Uncle Bob" just doesn't have the same ring to it does it? So what if TCAP reinforces irrational fears? It's not like NBC is supposed to go about educating the public or anything, it's a business and a simple matter of showing what people want to see: children+criminals+sex+reality=$$$
And if Mr.Conradt were such an experienced prosecutor, he would have known that the likes of Hansen would have pilloried him in the media long before any trial could take place. That kind of media attention does not encourage bail... and Conradt would have known what happens to even accused child molesters in prison. If TCAP did not shine the spotlight on Conradt during his arrest, would it have made a lick of difference? Would the presence of media during YOUR arrest make you feel like your life was over?
And for anyone leaving their kids with Uncle Bob:
Relationship to perpetrator, disclosure, social reactions, and PTSD symptoms in child sexual abuse survivors, by Ullman, S. E. in the Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 19-36, 2007.
And Hansen, you are mis-reading the article; Del Ray is not defending Conradt, he is attacking the influence that TCAP has in perverting the administration of justice. Personal attacks do not a persuasive argument make.
February 6, 2008 at 12:55pm by Mark Del guidice
Well, folks, I appreciate everyone's comments, and obviously you all care about the problem..
I am actually a survivor of a serious violent child predator, who as far as i know has finally died in a fed prison..much to my joy and relief.
i will not mention his name here as i care for his famliy who have also suffered and were very nice decent people. yes, HE WAS "UNCLE JOE" to us all...
he was never convicted of what he did to us, AND he attacked us after BBEING REHABBED PAROLED, AND RELEASED. Polly klasses killer had been relaesed too, a very common occorance.
I was 8, my lil sis was 5, and although i was lucky,[ only tried to kill myself w/ drugs, had alot of emotional issues then 10 years of thearpy and medication saved me] i am successful, happily married, etc..My sister was not as lucky.
I have not spoken with her in years, she was devastated by it, running away from home, ending up on the streets in NYC at 16, drugs, prostitution, self hate you cannot imagine, then th psyhc ward , and years and years of therapy, never had a real love relationship, never felt "safe" with men, hates my mom and dad [who has passed]blames our Family for it all,
Yes, you could say our family has been permanently and Brutally affected NEVER to really heal..my sis refuses to forgive my poor mom..
my parents were the best they could be, and that was alot, they deserve no blame other than not realizing this BEAST would do such a thing..
SO Chris Hansen, THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH
although I do feel there should not be a profit from the show, [donate to charities that are fighting and helping victims?]
The system needs to change. our prep had attacked many many children, and we KNOW he killed at least one, my sis SAW THE CHILDS BODY hidden on his boat..the FBI met us and investigated, the statue of limits had run out..and little proof 15 years later he got caught and re-imprisoned even befor ethe investigation, they had him for many many counts, AND fraud, imbezzelment [including my dad's business] and many other crimes.
they often are criminals to support their secret life, child porn is probably very expensive..
as far as this guy's article, i do have the same concern as any real citizen that we DO NOT condemn the innocent folks.. but i must agree with another reply that he most likely would not kill himself if he was innocent..they do not keep C M's with the general po in prison, to protect "their rights' I strongly take umberage to the comment that they should have a chance to serve "their time" and be re-civilised/rehabbed, etc..that is THE PROBLEM
You CANNOT rehab a murdering child molester.
it IS NOT POSSIBLE. and WHY should we?
what iis their right to a life after destroying so many children who haven't even had a chance to live yet, and often do not even understand teh horror they have to endure, and often die in the most henious scary way imaginable
have you had a dear elative die peacefully , etc, and been grateful for their exp.? turn it 360.
i do not think Proven Guilty w/o a reasonable doubt molesters DESERVE ANY chance for a life.
other sex offenders [there are many types] would recieve lesser appropriate punishment,ADULT on Adult offenders, etc..but anyone attacking a Child brutally [i can give you more details than you have guts to hear, i promise] and permanently ruining them deserves no chance.
so we do need to be cautious and not crazy overzealous, yet we need to CHANGE THE Laws so that we don't have to form posses of vigilantes...right now the C M's are NOT scared of prison and release, its not enough of a detterrant apparently, the numbers of them are GROWING..
anyway, I THANK YOU ALL for caring, and respectfully ask the author to reconsider some of his attacks on NBC, and ask Chris, who is a HERO to me in every sense of the word, [im crying right now] to olease take more care and discretion as is possible, and consider donating the money to org's that help.
Thank you all for listeneing to the REAL STORY