The Collegian
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Q&A with Chris Hansen

From the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, to India's child sex-trade and the counterfeit prescription drug program in China, Dateline NBC correspondent Chris Hansen has gained notoriety and praise for investigating issues largely cloaked from the public's view.

But Hansen is, perhaps, most widely known for his work with "To Catch a Predator" -- Dateline's 12-part investigative series into men who solicit sex from underage girls in Internet chat rooms.

"Take a seat," he often told the men in a clear, firm, authoritative voice when first confronting them in the home on national television.

Each of the some 250 men "To Catch a Predator" has exposed yields different conversations and the possibility of slightly different outcomes, all of which combines for television that is the apotheosis of high-stakes drama.

And that's where critics begin to take issue with the series, which has, for now, gone into an indefinite hibernation.

Dateline's work with law enforcement agencies throughout the country on the show and its decision to pay consulting fees to the organization Perverted Justice -- the online Internet predator watchdog group Dateline partners with -- has raised the ire of critics who charge the show crosses journalism's sacred ethical boundaries.

In 2006, a string operation in Murphy, Texas, drove one man, Kaufman County assistant district attorney Louis Conradt Jr., to shoot and kill himself as police closed in on his house. A Dateline TV crew was stationed outside.

The man's sister filed a lawsuit against NBC, and the case was settled out of court. Hansen declined to discuss the case, citing NBC policy, when interviewed recently by a Collegian reporter.

But he offered details about the series, his career as a journalist, and what he'll be discussing when he comes to the University of Richmond Feb. 9.

He first became interested in journalism at 14 years old, when U.S. labor champion Jimmy Hoffa disappeared in Michigan not far from where Hansen was living. The ensuing media frenzy, the mystery and intrigue of organized crime made Hansen feel that being a newsman was a great way to make a living.

A voracious reader of newspapers and magazines, Hansen said in 10 years he still wanted to be working at NBC with the colleagues he admires, including Mike Wallace, Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams, and he praised the people throughout news business who had helped advance his career.

Hansen's responses to other questions are below.

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1. What's "Predator's" current status as a show?

The Conradt lawsuit had no bearing on what happened with the show. Instead, we felt after 12 Predator investigations that it was important to take these hidden-camera techniques and point them toward other areas. There's a fine line, between creating awareness and news. And I thought we should do some more investigations. I don't think this is the end of "Predator." You try to balance with various topics that you're interested in and that you think need to be investigated for the public. I think eventually we'll have a discussion to do more to "Predator" investigations.

2. In the moments before coming out to face these men, what are you doing, thinking about and feeling?

I'm going through the chat and the information about the predator, and I want to have a good understanding of what was said. I've gone through and highlighted it. And I'm also thinking about not making each confrontation look the same.

There are guys who are 21 and 22 years old, and it's probably their first time meeting someone online. They're more of an opportunist than a hardcore predator. Some of these other guys are 65 and it's their first time. ...

While we have security there, some of which we don't talk about, I'm watching his hands [to make sure he isn't reaching for a gun]. You try to maintain control of the situation and conversation so the guy will talk to you. And I'm not there to prosecute. I'm there to figure out what's going through their minds to make them want to have sex with a child.

3. Do you consider the show a public service? Or are you creating news?

I'll let viewers decide whether it's a public service. We've raised awareness and created a dialogue. And I think we've done it in a responsible way. It has opened people's understanding about what can happen on the Internet, and that's positive.

4. But the show, more than your other pieces, was particularly popular and a ratings boon for NBC.

A number of our investigations do extremely well. Was "Predator" one of those really popular series? Sure. Undeniably there is drama there. When you walk out and confront someone who isn't expecting to be confronted, it's dramatic.

Parents watch it because they want to learn more about the capabilities of online predators. The FBI arrests one of these guys every single day. There are PTA meetings in schools across the country about how to protect your kid online. Yet these guys continue to show up, as much as our show and the law are doing. I still think the best protection is educating your children because these guys aren't going away.

5. Critics point out that the show blurs ethical lines of journalism, especially in your direct work with law enforcement. Are those criticisms warranted?

I don't think they're warranted. When we do one of these investigations, I meet the law enforcement agency, but we're not in contact during the investigations. And we don't have conversations with them until it's over. We get our versions of the transcripts from Perverted Justice, while law enforcement is set up in a separate area -- sometimes a mobile home or another home next door. Once they finish, they have their separate copy of the transcripts.

At one point early in the series, we didn't have a parallel law enforcement investigation. We had discussions: Is this responsible to have these people walk away? There were a lot of meetings with lawyers, and we were able to figure out a way to do this. It was challenging, because journalists don't want to be seen as a tool of law enforcement and law enforcement doesn't want to be seen as a tool of journalists. But the arrangements satisfied both sides. ... They were not calling our shots, and we never called their shots. They were two separate operations.

6. Do you feel you've become a de facto spokesman for the dangers of Internet predators, and does that present ethical problems for you as a journalist?

I don't think I'm a spokesman. I give talks to my kids' schools and other schools because I think it's the right thing to do. That's what you do when the book comes out, too. There are true advocacy groups that go into schools and really work on these issues, but I don't think I'm one of them.

7. How do you think "Predator" has affected your legacy as a TV journalist?

There's no question that it's the highest profile thing I've ever done. The good news is that when we go through these other investigations, people know you from "Predator." That's been very beneficial for researching and investigating other stories, and it has created other opportunities, no doubt.

8. What are some of the points you'll be focusing on in your talk?

I'll be speaking with the students and faculty about "Predator," and how it came about in addition to some behind-the-scenes things. A lot of students were not traditional consumers of TV news magazines. And I think the "Predator" franchise got people's attention, and especially college students. And they didn't start watching solely for journalistic reasons. Kids initially have followed my work because of "Predator," and are now following me with counterfeit medicine, fraud against seniors, the rest of my investigative work and everything else. It's really gratifying to have this crowd from one topic to the next. It's this kind of impact journalism -- undercover type things -- that are really important.

I'll also address the students. As they start to figure out what they're doing, they want to hear from someone in the public. It's going to be more about journalistic focus, but anybody can apply these things. Especially now, it's daunting to be a senior.

9. What investigative pieces are you currently working on for "Dateline"?

We're doing investigative pieces on the mortgage crises -- three to four investigative hours starting in mid to late February. We've talked to whistleblowers at Countrywide and other finance companies and are profiling some of the people caught with these bad mortgages. We've found these people through court records. We talked to a woman who had $18,000 in income and got a $269,000 mortgage.

10. Anne Frank once said that despite everything she endured, she believed people were basically good. Do you agree?

I agree. I have an admittedly dark view of the world, but I think people are basically good. Investigating crimes, you see people do some terrible things, but I still believe people are good at heart.

Contact staff writer Dan Petty at dan.petty@richmond.edu

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