Chris Hansen Scrutiny

Former NBC Journalist Chris Hansen faced renewed public scrutiny following the September 25 release of A24 thriller Primetime.  

Hansen is an American television presenter and journalist. During his tenure as a correspondent for Dateline NBC, he hosted the segment entitled ‘To Catch a Predator.’ On this program, sexual predators would be caught using sting operations. Hansen was then on several other shows, including but not limited to, Crime Watch Daily and Killer Instinct. He has won several accolades, including ten Emmy awards.

The new released film, Primetime, directed by Lance Oppenheim, follows Hansen played by Robert Pattinson, as an egotistical and ratings-obsessed reporter. During an interview where Hansen was shown the trailer for the new movie Hansen says that nothing in the trailer except for the actor saying my name and ‘have a seat’ ever happened in real life. 

“The portrayal made Hansen look really bad because he was largely motivated by his desire to get his show on Primetime and catch a predator that would be more interesting to viewers,” NHS senior Lahja Kurjiaka said.

Primetime offers scenes of the darkest parts of “To Catch a Predator” including excessive foul language, depictions of sexual activity. The film also recounts the death of Bill Contradt. Conradt, a Texas Chief Felony Assistant Direct Attorney, commited suicide as police arrived at his home to follow through with their search and arrest warrents which had stemmed from an online sting. 

“The movie also showed other negative actions of his, like an affair he had and him not being a very present father due to his obsession with his show,” Kurjiaka said.

Following the movie, speculation comes back on whether the methods of To Catch a Predator were ethical. The process was completely legal, having a law enforcement partnership with police on-site during every segment, avoiding entrapment with provoking sting operations, and how the production crew and Chris Hansen had no authority or ability to arrest. But while completely legal, what is most prevalent  is the ethicality of the show.

“Something that sticks out in my mind is something called cost benefit ethic. So in other words, does the benefit of the greater good outweigh the cost of potentially inhuman terms?” NHS psychology teacher Tom Pescarmona said.

Controversies following the ethicality of the show include the aftermath of the Bill Contradt suicide and lawsuit, civilian vigilantism risks, and jurisdiction and evidence issues. Some civilian arrests had led to dropped charges or legal pushback stemming from improper police procedures or questionable chain-of-custody handling for digital evidence. 

“I think a lot of people would say the benefit of it was greater than potentially the cost of someone losing rights. Because I think there are some issues concerning confidentiality and things like that,” Pescarmona said.