In general, I don't like news tabloids like Dateline or Primetime. They try to pass themselves off as journalists, when in fact they are nothing but entertainment venues. Their sole purpose is to generate ratings to sell advertisements, but they make it sound like they're performing a public service.

I've never really trusted Dateline, since they strapped explosives incindiary devices to those GM pickups to show how easily they catch fire in an accident. That is why I am overjoyed to read this FOX News report that Dateline's tabloid journalism has sunk to new lows.

The laundry list includes:

• Dateline chastising Fox for paying for the Michael Jackson outtakes, but failing to mention that NBC offered up $5 Million for the same tapes, and offered to bump Dateline off the air if Jackson cut a deal.
• Dateline also made a big deal out of the producer F. Marc Schaffel, having produced porn videos. No mention was made that the use of porn directors is common place for performers, specifically Britney Spears and Counting Crows.
• Perhaps most damning, was the report that NBC largely relied on supermarket tabloids for their sources. Much of their report relied on information from the parent company of The National Enquirer, The Star, and The Globe, and was taken at face value without checking the source.