The broadcaster in me was screaming as I sat and watched today's Montel show, which I recorded via the wonders of DVR. Coley and Deb have already talked about their absolute distaste for today's episode on adoption scams. As always, I have something to say, too.

First and foremost, Claud looked lovely, don't you think? Yep. I took a picture of the TV (on pause) specifically for this post. Pink was an exceptional pick! Moving on to what Claud had to say and how she handled Montel: job well done. While Claud lamented about not being able to say everything she wanted to say, I think she handled the spastic-annoyance that was Montel with class and composure. I applaud her efforts at speaking out and continue to encourage any endeavor she seeks out to speak out.

Moving on to the show in general: lame, lame and more lame. Aren't we tired of the same old scare tactics? Haven't people moved on to wanting to know "the whole," which includes the good and the bad, instead of "the part," which just involves selling the scariest stories in hopes of getting the biggest ratings? I understand when shows like Law & Order (et. al.) feature the scare tactic stories: they're fictional shows and in fiction, the scarier, the better. However, when a psuedo-journalist tries to discuss and issue and portrays it as insanely one-sided, I get kind of ticked off.

I understand that a talk show is not the same as The Nightly News with Brian Williams (which is my favorite of the national nightly newscasts). However, if I had a talk show, I would want to be seen in the best possible light, wouldn't you? Coming from my journalistic and broadcasting background, I just can't understand how you can let your own personal opinions, experiences and desires absolutely dictate and thus ruin an interview. His snide comments about wanting to adopt and not being elligible (for whatever skewed reasons he spewed) didn't have a place in telling the stories of those who were on the show. To briefly mention, "Oh, my finacee and I are considering adoption but now we have a lot to consider," would be one thing. He took it too far and made himself look like a child-grabbing, ethics-be-darning maniacal jerk. (That said, I would never place with someone who said the things that he did on today's show. Goodness!)

You'd think, by reading this quote on his website which is pulled from his book, that he would have the ability and desire to present himself in a respetful, responsible and restrained manner:

One of my three watchwords (along with responsibility and respect), restraint is as simple as it gets. For my purposes, restraint is stopping yourself from doing or saying something that might come back to hurt you or someone else. It's exercising control or moderation. It's pulling back when your impulse is to push forwards. It's keeping you from making a fool of yourself - or at the very least knowing that what you're about to do is foolish as hell.

His words today were hurtful. To me. To other bloggers on this site. To others touched by adoption. To those untouched by and uneducated about adoption because now their understanding has been skewed by his lack of restraint. For someone to make a statement like the one above and then act as he did on today's show? Screams hypocritical to me and smacks of a lack of professionalism which, shy of Jerry Springer's show, is usually expected of people who bring us "news."

Montel acted poorly on today's show. To refer to an adoption scam as a "buyer beware" issue is to say that adopting is buying babies. Humans are not something to be bought and sold and someone with any ounce of broadcasting professionalism would be coherent and concerned with his word choice.

That said, if you take issue with anything that Montel said today (or did), feel free to e-mail Montel/the producers/most likely some poor intern via their feedback page. Our voices won't be heard if we don't use them: speak up, speak out.