Television news is anything but

Is anyone else having a hard time watching TV news these days?

True, I like getting news updates on the electronic-sex chats between U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., and his favorite congressional pages. I mean, who doesn't, right?

Did Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Terrell Owens attempt suicide or accidentally pop too many pills? I admit, I wanted to know.

And, my TV refuses to be powered off when there's a hint I might be informed "any minute now" about North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's nuclear tests. Promise me even the tiniest morsel about this communist wacko and his Orwellian regime and I'll sit through countless commercials about cell phones, hair products and drugs combating erectile dysfunction.

There are plenty of other stories I'd like more information on, too. Admittedly, some are of dubious news value.

Unfortunately, TV news programs fail to deliver what they promise.

There's too much "opinion analysis" on TV, argued over repeatedly by the same talking heads. Are these the only people who know anything? Do they really know that much about everything?

Then, as I'm having dinner and watching TV one night, Dateline NBC and reporter Chris Hansen start busting perverts seeking sex with young teens. I haven't missed an episode since.

NBC's "To catch a predator" is must-see TV. At least in my apartment it is.

OK, Dateline NBC is not exactly the Washington Post. But this show does everything an investigative reporter wants to do: Shine light on the bad guys, and capture plenty of video as cops bust them.

The show concept is simple. Hansen and his TV crew set up a house where a young teenager is supposed to be home alone. They link the home to the outside world via chat rooms and e-mail. An online watchdog group, "Perverted-Justice," goes into the chat rooms posing as the young teen interested in sex.

If a man asks one of the chat-room decoys for sex, he'll get the address of the house and invited over.

Soon, everybody in the community seems to be dropping by.

Doctors and soldiers, teachers and preachers, the predators show up relentlessly. Some say they saw previous episodes of the show. They just couldn't resist the bait.

The police, at times, can't arrest them fast enough.

It's a miracle Hansen's sting hasn't netted a Republican congressman. Look out, Foley.

If he does, cable news programs are sure to trot out the pundits for "analysis."

Meanwhile, Hansen does episode after episode. He's done seven so far, catching 150 men.

Every politician slipping through Hansen's net is sure to promise a "massive amount of funding" to catch these "sick," "perverted," "low-life scumbags."

Actually, they'll promise the money until the mid-term election.

David Cole is the county reporter for the Columbia Basin Herald.