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Like all good things however, this positive infatuation with the Net came to an end and it appears that the popularity pendulum is swinging the other way.

To make matters worse, our TV channels seem to have launched themselves into tabloid format in an attempt to grab the largest share of that all-important 6pm-7:30pm prime-time period.

Last night was the perfect example...

In the lead-up to the 6pm news on TV One, Judy Bailey talked about the conviction of a child-porn trader "whose victims were as young as two years of age".

Now nobody doubts that those kids portrayed in child-porn are indeed victims - but the spin given in this news promo made it sound as if the child porn trader had himself actually engaged in the abuse of the children who's pictures were being traded. This would be a crime even more vile than the trading of which he had actually been convicted.

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After hearing this promo, I listened with great interest to the actual story when it aired but there was no indication at all that the guilty man had actually abused children as young as two years of age.

I most certainly will not excuse his actions in trading this stuff - but the news promo was unquestionably deceptive, a common theme with just about every report I see on net-related child porn report aired by the media.

And then, less than an hour later, we had the absolutely ridiculous report on the Mt Manganui webcam.

Described by Susan Wood on TV1's Close Up programme as "a pervert's playground", some outrageous and unsubstantiated claims were made in respect to those who were accessing the camera.

The impression given by the programme was that web voyeurs with sexual motives were queuing up to perve on the bathers lying on the sand.

Some sunbathers were interviewed by the TV programme and asked whether they felt uneasy that the camera was broadcasting their picture on the Net. A couple of those interviewed (we'll never know what the other said) commented that yes, it made them uncomfortable. Strangely enough, although the prospect of being seen by a few thousand people on the Net made them uncomfortable, they had no qualms about being seen in exactly the same place and situation by a national TV audience of more than a million -- go figure!

In an effort to further hype up the issue, viewers were told that the camera was connected to a "powerful transmitter" (IP wireless which is usually very low power).

For those who missed it, a copy of the segment was available on the TVNZ website this morning.

Is this the calibre of news reporting we can now expect when it comes to issues involving the Net?

Anyone watching TV last night would probably believe that the Net is simply the domain of child-abusers and sexual perverts, something that *we* know is far from the truth.

Are you concerned at this myopic and decidedly sensationalist type of reporting?

Will it only get worse once TV1, TV3 and Prime TV all go head to head for the "current affairs" slot at 7pm?

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