A New Doc Questions The Legacy of "To Catch A Predator"

“To Catch a Predator” aired on television as a segment of NBC’s Dateline in the early 2000's. Men would be lured into talking online to a decoy posing as a child then would show up at a so-called 'sting house' fitted with hidden cameras where the truth of their situation would be revealed. The show eventually became one of the biggest and most influential true crime shows ever , drawing seven million viewers per episode by its final season in 2007. The main draw? Watching the humiliation of the would-be child predators play out in front of your eyes. David Osit, is a filmmaker whose recent documentary “Predators,” probes the ugly legacy of the show -- how it blurred the lines between justice and entertainment and what it says about us that we watched it. On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today ( ). Follow our show on Instagram , Bluesky , TikTok and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

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A New Doc Questions The Legacy of "To Catch A Predator" is an episode from On the Media by WNYC Studios.

This episode is 00:18:32 long.

This episode was published on Mar 4, 2026.

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