Some days I hate news reporters. It seems more and more, they go out of their way to scare people by giving them half the facts. Today on The Opie and Anthony Show, they played a TV news report citing that a Nintendo DS can be used by sexual predators to talk to children. How you ask?

Nintendo DS has a built in chat program called "Pictochat" which allows people to connect and talk. Combine this with uninformed parents and a national scare is created. I want to shoot the person that decided to do this sensationalist piece.

They talked to several parents who had no idea that their child could possibly talk to other people on their DS. The reporter set up a connection in the living room of a home and was talking to a woman's daughters who were upstairs. he was asking all kinds of questions including asking for names, schools and addresses while the mother looked on. The girls knew they were talking to the reporter down stairs yet she was SHOCKED to know her daughters were answering his questions. Why? It was a set-up! Holy cow woman! She helped set this up and then is surprised that her daughters trust her judgment in who they should talk to?

While children talking to a sexual predator through a Nintendo DS is possible in theory, it's practically impossible. What they fail to tell either of the mothers and the general public is that the connection must be made between 30 and 100 feet. I'm no expert, but I'd be willing to bet if a sexual predator is that close, you'd know about it. Not only that, but hardly anyone even uses "Pictochat". Even in busy places, I've never seen a single person in a "Pictochat" room.

Much like there is a less than 1% chance a cell phone can interrupt onboard instruments in a plane, the same can be said about a DS being used by sexual predators to contact children. Could it happen? Yes. The likelihood it will happen? Slim to none. Stop trying to scare people with your sensationalism news reporter. You disgust me.