ABC, You Got Some 'Splainin' To Do — Now

Was I shocked when I read Andrea S. Lafferty’s article about ABC News sending an undercover photographer into a crowd of Ground Zero Mosque protesters? Yes and no.

Yes, because it’s something a news organization has no business doing. No, because nothing surprises me with the media nowadays.

NBC’s Dateline sent people dressed as Muslims to a NASCAR race shortly after 9-11 to videotape bigotry that they hoped to find. They found none, but that’s not the point here. The fact they thought they would find it at a NASCAR race shows NBC’s bigotry.

In this latest case, ABC needs to explain what it was doing and why it was doing it (of course, we already know, but if they are truly transparent as a media outlet, they would want to explain themselves.)

Undercover cameras are used all the time in gathering news, but they are used when media feel they are going after a “perp”, a bad-guy or some other evil criminal. ABC used an undercover camera to go after average American citizens who apparently are seen as “perps” by the network.

Simple and straight here, ABC—you need to explain what was going on with your undercover cameraman trying to find “dirt” on average Americans. Also–I’d love to see the “raw video.” I’ll take my chances on this one, but I like the odds. If you had something, we would’ve seen it by now. Not only do I challenge you to explain yourselves, but also release the raw video of what your undercover cameraman shot and put it on your web site. There is plenty of bandwidth space. The Internet is a marvelous tool for context. Let’s see everything your undercover cameraman found.

Also — ABC, does it ever occur to you that you that you were going after your own potential viewers here? Please, never wonder why your evening news ratings are dying when you pull stunts like this on the public.

I’ll be anxiously awaiting your response.