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| israel
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TV sting backfires - nothing but voyeurism!
Israel's Channel 10 television has been slammed by a judge for copying the ‘sting-for-entertainment’ antics of NBC’s ‘To Catch a Predator’.
In 2008, Channel 10’s producer, Dov Gil-Har, instructed his investigators to act as 13-year-old girls in chat rooms and entice men to converse with them. Eighteen of those who fell for the sting through ‘conversations of a sexual nature’ were invited to an apartment where a young-looking actress was waiting. After each of the men held a brief conversation with her, the producer, Gil-Har, together with police officers, confronted them and they were arrested by police on camera.
On Monday 1st February, 2010, the Tel Aviv District Court acquitted one of the eighteen ‘suspected paedophiles’ arrested in the sting operation and ruled that the television station had entrapped the suspects and infringed their civil rights. District Court Judge Dan Mor went further and castigated Israel Channel 10, saying, "The conduct of the station and the investigators constituted an inappropriate form of temptation that improperly infringes upon civil rights. - - - . I will not lend my hand to such conduct."
He went on: "Channel 10 took upon itself the freedom to conduct a police investigation, which the law reserves for official investigative authorities, solely to serve the needs of the ratings. The station did not in the least take into account the damage liable to be caused to those who were tempted.
"The matter at hand is the seduction and temptation that goes beyond the bounds of decency. The issue here is not the police. It sent an undercover agent into a criminal arena, in which it had difficulty finding evidence against suspects except by cooperating with a television station acting for reasons of ratings, which are commercial considerations aimed at attracting viewers to its programs. A project like this is clearly nothing but voyeurism. It was not motivated by public considerations of bringing suspects to justice, but of increasing the proportion of viewers who watch the station's programs.
"The conversations of the investigators were not so innocent. This is sophisticated and intentional entrapment."
British Operation Ore casualties will not be surprised that despite the ruling Channel 10 grandstanded after the case claiming that others who were profiled in the expose were ‘convicted or signed plea bargains’. That will sound very familiar to cautioned Orees who decided to avoid public trial and shaming.
The power of the lynch mob ideology did not stop there as the grandstanding continued. "We stand 100 percent behind the expose," Channel 10 said in a statement. "We are certain that anyone who saw it would agree that these are dangerous people whose exposure is in the public interest." This is a further example of the media feeling empowered enough by the ideology of the moral panic to publicly criticize the decisions of judges.
But the judge singled out producer Gil-Har for criticism. "I wonder how Gil-Har could have assumed the right to attack the surprised defendant in front of the station's cameras. The producer did not allow the defendant even the minimal time required to let him talk to the actress so that, perhaps, he would find out the truth about her age, and then - on the assumption that the defendant is entitled to the benefit of the doubt - get up and leave the place."
Sources and possible precedent
As this could be a legal precedent for other cases, here are some sources.
Israel news: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1146633.html
For anyone who may wish to study or to cite the case legally, the official court decision can be cited as: “TP [Criminal File] 07/8371 State of Israel vs. John Doe (Magistrate, Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Dan Mor) 31/01/2010 ” The 47-page decision also is named: "TP 07-8371 M.I. Prosecution Tel Aviv District –Criminal vs Ploni [Doe]". It can be downloaded from http://www.netlaw.co.il/files/doc/ver_20100131_soi_v_ploni.pdf Except for a couple citations, it’s all in Hebrew, but it's a notable decision which may find its way into translation.
Original story. 15 Dec 2007: Channel 10 will air Sunday a sting operation it organized that led to the arrest of several men suspected of trying to seduce ... www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=934796... - Cached.
Responses
From D in Belgium
The proverb, 'set a thief to catch a thief' first appeared in English literature in the 1665 preface to Sir Robert Howard’s Foure New Plays. Howard a once imprisoned Monarchist-Parliamentarian, knighted for his bravery as an 18 year old Royalist in the English Civil War, was also known for his arrogance and his affairs: he was ultimately married ‘foure’ times – an apt role-model for later notorious profiteering Tory rakes and rogues. Likely that Howard adapted uncredited, Cervantes’ 1664 similar phrase in his Don Quixote, 'set a fool to catch a fool'.
The novel To catch A Thief, first published in 1951 was by mystery-crime and travel writer Californian, David Dodge. Master of suspense movies, Alfred Hitchcok bought the film rights and Cary Grant and Grace Kelly starred in the 1955 VistaVision widescreen hit, winning ‘Best Cinematography’ at the 1956 Oscars.
'To Catch A Thief' was also the title for UK comic, hapless Harry Worth’s January 1960 4th episode of his BBC TV series 'The Trouble With Harry'. In the current black-farce grasping TV context the proverb’s clear implication is that NBC host Chris Hansen adoption of 'to catch a predator' appears to have assumed both the tried and trusted formula and a main role for himself and his agents as 'predators catching predators'. Perhaps more precicely reformed predators or closet predators terrorising and scapgoating what they see as other predators.
Created on 02/03/2010 10:02 PM by Editor
Updated on 02/07/2010 10:59 PM by Editor
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