Outcry grows as beauty queen defends posing online as 14-year-old to snare potential offenders for real-life crime show

 

As a way of catching would-be paedophiles, it is not exactly orthodox: asking the reigning Miss America to go online and pretend to be 14 instead of 20, all the better to lure unsuspecting men to a meeting place and clap them in handcuffs.

That, though, is exactly what happened on New York's Long Island a couple of weeks ago, provoking a nation-wide storm of controversy.

 

Not that it was primarily the idea of the local police. Rather, it was set up by the producers of a true-crime show on Rupert Murdoch's Fox television network, who thought it would be just the thing to up the ratings in a key "sweeps" week, when advertisers pay particularly close attention to audience ratings before they negotiate their rates for the following few months.

 

Lauren Nelson, the Miss America who went along with the scheme, insists she believes wholeheartedly in the cause of getting would-be sex offenders off the streets. But she was also marketed to death by Fox executives, who plainly saw the set-up's entertainment value every bit as much as its utility as a law-enforcement exercise.

 

"You've seen her in a bikini," read the teasing web page of the hit programme America's Most Wanted. "You've seen her in an evening gown. You've never seen her like this." As the programme documented, four men who came to meet her at a house on Long Island were arrested on the spot, with the cameras rolling. Seven other men who had exchanged explicit online messages with her were arrested a few days later.

 

While some police officials and media commentators expressed satisfaction with the outcome, a growing backlash posed questions about the wisdom of the enterprise. "The whole thing is a disgrace and an embarrassment to law enforcement," criminal law professor Richard Klein told Newsday, Long Island's main paper. "To set people up and the way that it's done for ratings on TV shows, it's just really disgraceful, a waste of time and shameful in so many ways."

 

John Powers, a defence lawyer for a man caught up in the sting despite suffering debilitating psychiatric problems, told the paper: "The police department, with the aid of Miss America, John Walsh and the Fox network, created this crime where it didn't exist."

So strong was the backlash that last week numerous media reports suggested Ms Nelson was getting cold feet about testifying in court about her exploits.

 

But on Friday she was back on track, and denied hesitation. "Until yesterday at noon, I had not been asked to testify," she told Associated Press. "I started out with this operation to put online predators behind bars, and I'm going to see that through to the end. If that means me testifying or being part of this criminal case in any way, that will be exactly what I'll do."

The one thing that I hate about the American TV networks, is their obession over ratings. This is just the lowest of all lows to get the big ratings for the sweeps. There's a line and Fox have crossed it...

Can't see the problem in this at all, good on Fox News, if one person is saved from being abused or murdered by these people then it has been worth it

Was it really necessary to use a "Miss America" though....? I dunno, I think it's all a bit distasteful, the way they went about doing it.... In essence, I suppose it had a good intent, but the way they went about it, using Miss America and everything, just leaves a nasty taste in the mouth.... Why not just use one of Fox News' own reporting team to pose as a 14 year old..? Oh, I suppose it's not "sexy" or "sensationalist" enough is it....? <_< I dunno, don't you just think that somehow the actual message is being lost here amongst all the hype.....?

Was it really necessary to use a "Miss America" though....? I dunno, I think it's all a bit distasteful, the way they went about doing it.... In essence, I suppose it had a good intent, but the way they went about it, using Miss America and everything, just leaves a nasty taste in the mouth.... Why not just use one of Fox News' own reporting team to pose as a 14 year old..? Oh, I suppose it's not "sexy" or "sensationalist" enough is it....? <_< I dunno, don't you just think that somehow the actual message is being lost here amongst all the hype.....?

 

4 men turned up at the house of what they believed to be a 14 year old girl, that shows that regardless of the methods used by Fox News that there is 4 seemingly dangerous men who have been removed from the streets, regardless of the methods used surely thats a good thing

4 men turned up at the house of what they believed to be a 14 year old girl, that shows that regardless of the methods used by Fox News that there is 4 seemingly dangerous men who have been removed from the streets, regardless of the methods used surely thats a good thing

 

Like I say, the intent was good, but the method is highly questionable.... They're supposed to be a fukkin' NEWS channel..... A staff reporter could have done the job quite adequately as opposed to some bloody Beauty Queen... Was there really any need to turn a serious issue into a tacky exploitation piece using a two-bit "celeb"...? I think bloody NOT..... Stuff like this is just symtomatic of a general lowering of standards which just should not be tolerated IMO....

 

Is it just me or does this have all the hallmarks of a future movie script, it is Fox after all?

Like I say, the intent was good, but the method is highly questionable.... They're supposed to be a fukkin' NEWS channel..... A staff reporter could have done the job quite adequately as opposed to some bloody Beauty Queen... Was there really any need to turn a serious issue into a tacky exploitation piece using a two-bit "celeb"...? I think bloody NOT..... Stuff like this is just symtomatic of a general lowering of standards which just should not be tolerated IMO....

 

Yeah but a beauty queen doing it gets far more publicity and far more coverage than some staff reporter, the dangers that have been highlighted by these arrested men will get far more national coverage as a beauty queen was involved and it might help serve as a wake up call to parents to monitor what their kids are up to online

I'm sure I saw a similar story to this on TV a few months ago. An American TV programme were using similar methods (although not a beauty queen) to lure would-be paedophiles to an address where the reporter would confront them.

Yeah but a beauty queen doing it gets far more publicity and far more coverage than some staff reporter, the dangers that have been highlighted by these arrested men will get far more national coverage as a beauty queen was involved and it might help serve as a wake up call to parents to monitor what their kids are up to online

 

So, you dont think the issue itself should be the most important thing then...? If you don't get that this is just sympotmatic of the whole problem of how the media has just become utterly dumbed down, and that Fox News is an absolute disgrace to to the very idea of journalism, then you are not the intelligent person that I think you are.... This is "Anti-Journalism" of the worst kind... And a clever lawyer will be able to get this case thrown out of court very easily.... Fox News has done precisely NOTHING to prevent child abuse or protect children, it has merely done the thing that seems to be the most important to it....Get ratings....

 

Is it just me or does this have all the hallmarks of a future movie script, it is Fox after all?

 

No, it's not just you mate... The whole thing stinks of PR and hype (hey, it;s the American Way after all innit...?)... No doubt the film will have Angelina Jolie playing the part of the Beauty Queen, and Kevin Spacey playing one of the perverts..... <_<

So, you dont think the issue itself should be the most important thing then...? If you don't get that this is just sympotmatic of the whole problem of how the media has just become utterly dumbed down, and that Fox News is an absolute disgrace to to the very idea of journalism, then you are not the intelligent person that I think you are.... This is "Anti-Journalism" of the worst kind... And a clever lawyer will be able to get this case thrown out of court very easily.... Fox News has done precisely NOTHING to prevent child abuse or protect children, it has merely done the thing that seems to be the most important to it....Get ratings....

 

Yes Fox News have won a ratings war out of this but 11 men who are potential child rapists and child murderers are behind bars because of it so while Fox News were doing this purely for themselves the end product is still 11 dangerous men behind bars who would not be had it not been for this program so I can overlook Fox's behaviour by seeing the end product of 11 men in jail as a result of it.

 

 

Yes Fox News have won a ratings war out of this but 11 men who are potential child rapists and child murderers are behind bars because of it so while Fox News were doing this purely for themselves the end product is still 11 dangerous men behind bars who would not be had it not been for this program so I can overlook Fox's behaviour by seeing the end product of 11 men in jail as a result of it.

 

You dont get it though, do you.... How long are these guys gonna actually be in jail for....? If I was a lawyer, I could probably sail the sodding Titanic through the holes in the case for the Prosecution.... By doing this very thing they have totally prejudiced any possibility of a fair trial.... A good lawyer is gonna get these guys off... They're gonna walk, mark my words mate..... If O J and Jacko can get away with what they did.......

you could argue that the scam created the market.... and these men were possibly not going around looking for it but when it was on offer?..... again i dont regard a 14 year old in the same way i regard a pre-pubescent child... but weve discussed that before.

you could argue that the scam created the market.... and these men were possibly not going around looking for it but when it was on offer?.....

 

Good point Rob.. I think this is where the ethical argument comes in.. And the point you're bringing up here will probably be the basis for a good lawyer to mount a pretty impressive defence...

 

Don't expect this story to have the ending you think it will, Craig.... I reckon these guys will actually be acquitted...... And it will be all Fox News' fault.... <_<