‘DATELINE” is backing off claims it’s made in several of its reports focusing on online predators.
The NBC newsmagazine stated twice that, at any given time, there are 50,000 predators prowling for children on the Internet.
“We used it in the first two stories, and we haven’t used it in the last three,” “Dateline” correspondent Chris Hansen told NPR’s “On the Media” when asked about the 50,000 figure.
Reporters often use that number to dress up crimerelated statistics.
In terms of Internet predators and children, the 50,000 number was cited last month by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who attributed it to “Dateline.” Experts say the only reasonably accurate crime statistics are those released by the Uniform Crime Report, which tracks things like rape, murder and auto theft – but not Internet predators.
Meanwhile, the FBI, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Crimes Against Children Research Center say the 50,000 figure is not based on any research of which they’re aware.
“Maybe the appeal of the number is that it wasn’t a real small number,” veteran FBI agent Ken Lanning told “On the Media.” “It wasn’t like 100 or 200, and it wasn’t a ridiculously large number, like 10 million. It was a ‘Goldilocks’ number – not too hot, not too cold.” Hansen says that Lanning basically confirmed the 50,000 number when “Dateline” was working on its first report on the subject last year.
Lanning says he’s not sure if the 50,000 figure is accurate.