Sheffield Will Meet With Dateline's Chris Hansen & NBC Execs in New York

**English** · April-23-10, 12:04 AM

Uh-oh...

Sheffield Will Meet With Dateline's Chris Hansen & NBC Execs in New York
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...-91825619.html

DETROIT, April 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Reverend Horace Sheffield III will lead a delegation of Detroiters to New York City for a Monday meeting with NBC executives and Dateline correspondent Chris Hansen to discuss the NBC Dateline production "America Now: City of Heartbreak and Hope" that focused on Detroit.

"I believe that the airing of 'City of Heartbreak and Hope' has caused irreparable harm to the good people of Detroit. Detroit deserves a fair media shake from NBC. We travel to New York City to discuss the possibility of airing a follow-up production that is balanced and does not wallow in sensationalistic negativity," said Sheffield.

Sheffield said he will also discuss the need for NBC to implement a Code of Fairness that would take into account the impact of airing productions that have the potential to harm a city.

"The network obsession to obtain ratings by any means necessary must be balanced with a sense of fairness. How in the hell can you justify portraying America's poorest and blackest city as having been reduced to eating coon meat as a Detroit staple?" asks Sheffield who contends that the Dateline inclusion of the Detroit coon hunter bordered on media racism.

**313WX** · April-23-10, 08:04 AM

Originally Posted by English

Uh-oh...

Sheffield Will Meet With Dateline's Chris Hansen & NBC Execs in New York
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...-91825619.html

Just be glad Adolf Mongo isn't going along with him.

DC48080 · April-23-10, 08:07 AM

So, what is in this for Sheffield? He doesn't do anything unless he can figure out a way to line his pockets by doing it. He is probably the biggest shake-down artist in Detroit. He is a charlatan through and through.

**313WX** · April-23-10, 08:10 AM

Originally Posted by DC48080

So, what is in this for Sheffield?

Sheffield is also Kwame's buddy and a Kilpatrick pacifist, so I would personally take whatever good he does with a grain of salt.

DC48080 · April-23-10, 08:18 AM

Originally Posted by 313WX

Sheffield is also Kwame's buddy and a Kilpatrick pacifist, so I would personally take whatever good he does with a grain of salt.

Agreed, but he won't do any good unless it is good for himself first. He doesn't give a damn about Detroit. This is just a publicity stunt to make himself look good.

**Baselinepunk** · April-23-10, 08:28 AM

Great, religia alsos representing Detroit.

Good grief, talk about being part of the problem ...

Retroit · April-23-10, 08:34 AM

Why doesn't he meet with the thugs in Detroit who are causing "irreparable harm" to the city?

DC48080 · April-23-10, 08:44 AM

Originally Posted by Retroit

Why doesn't he meet with the thugs in Detroit who are causing "irreparable harm" to the city?

That is a good point. It is probably because they have nothing to offer him. He is a vulture and won't do anything unless he can enrich himself by doing so.

Retroit · April-23-10, 08:51 AM

Well, maybe they'd beat the shit out of him and he'd have a different perspective.

DC48080 · April-23-10, 08:54 AM

I doubt it. If they're on his "team" they can do no wrong in his eyes. Besides, he probably pays them off to leave him and his church alone. Or maybe they pay him off so he won't snitch on them. Either way, I think he is just as dirty as the thugs.

**Packman41** · April-23-10, 09:17 AM

Originally Posted by Retroit

Why doesn't he meet with the thugs in Detroit who are causing "irreparable harm" to the city?

But he is meeting with the thugs. Didn't you know that Sheffield is the leader of "Keep Kwame Out of Jail Fund?" The good Reverend is spearheading the collection effort so that Kwame does not have to go into his private stash.
http://detnews.com/article/20100421/...397/1361/rss41

With "leadership" such as this, no wonder we have Dateline Specials about Detroit.

**iheartthed** · April-23-10, 09:56 AM

The most amusing part about this is that it's him going to meet with NBC, and not a representative from the mayor's office. In fact, if I recall correctly, Sheffield had a statement in the media rebuking the Dateline story a full two days before Bing's office said a word. Talk about your hands off approach to brand management.

I wonder how much this story cost them in terms of attracting conventions to fill those brand new empty hotel rooms downtown?

DC48080 · April-23-10, 10:47 AM

Here is what will likely happen: Sheffield will meet with someone from NBC, he will feign outrage about the story, then he will threaten to have his sheep boycot NBC and all of their advertisers unless they make a donation to whatever phony charity he mentions.

He is Detroit's version Al Sharpton and he will take his cues from Sharpton's playbook when he handles this one. He is nothing more than a shakedown artist pure and simple.

**RickBeall** · April-23-10, 11:02 AM

Dateline's Chris Hansen should meet with Sheffield and get him to say all kinds of crazy things about Kwame, and then Chris can further shake his head sadly at what passes for leadership and morality in Detroit. Chris probably would not have to say a thing, just let Sheffield talk himself into knots.

**DetBill** · April-23-10, 11:04 AM

He will do nothing but reinforce any negative image people have of Detroit. Its too bad we couldnt have gotten a consortium of business, and community people who could demonstrate the more positive elements that do infact exist within the city. Along with all the desperate situations they were showing they should look at a viable neighborhood [[ there are some ), they should interview a new business entrepeneur willing to take a risk [[ think mid town), they should look at some of the community organizations we have who are working hard for improvement, A simple walk through parts of the downtown easily show we are not all about devastation. Just a bit of counter balance to all the negativity would help. Ofcourse ,there are many people in our own metro area that are very unaware of their existence, which is sad.

**Meddle** · April-23-10, 11:23 AM

Reverend Horace Sheffield III

Who?

From the follow up posts, it sounds like the Detroit version of Al Sharpton or Louis Farrakan.

Yeah. That'll help the image.

By the way, Hansen is a shark disguised as a barracuda, so you can bet he'll be looking for tidbits to use later.

**Brittz** · April-23-10, 11:59 AM

Well, perhaps Chris will get to ask Sheffield about his school. The one where no schooling is happening. With Sheffield's background he needs to zip it.

**daddeeo** · April-23-10, 12:12 PM

Horace is just a real funny guy.
I'm sure Second City is gathering material from him as we speak.
I saw him on WJBK's Let Her Rip the other night and just
about bust a gut laughing at what he had to say. What a fraud.

**mikeinmotown** · April-25-10, 04:04 PM

Sheffield is the last person on earth that should be representing Detroit. Sheffield is a bigot. I can see it now, Hansen will get Sheffeild all worked up and then let him keep talking and making a big fool of himself. America will think everyone in Detroit must be like Sheffield. Great, just what we need for Detroit.

**English** · April-25-10, 11:51 PM

Yes, I posted this because it's Sheffield. I guess we'll have to see what happens tomorrow. I'm sure Channel 4 will have their cameras in NYC.

**LeannaM** · April-26-10, 12:16 AM

I didn't think the Dateline show was that bad. I thought they showed that there are still people in Detroit that care. As far as "irreparable harm" which of the other dozens of shows about Detroit's decay didn't harm its image?

**kryptonite** · April-26-10, 07:44 AM

"Rev" Sheffield meeting with Chris Hansen? Isn't that humorous collection of bottom-feeders. Both are opportunist manipulating sh*theads willing to sink to any depths to achieve any personal promotion goal.

**Danny** · April-26-10, 08:03 AM

If only Chris Hanson did some postive effects on Detroit. This offensive debaucle would never happen. Sorry Hanson, no pulitzer or a Peabody Award for you.

**daddeeo** · April-26-10, 11:31 AM

If more Detroiters did a better job of fixing the city, there'd be more to talk about.
All most people see is a former mayor, city council people and public school officials lining their pockets and fighting with each other.
If Bing, the new council and Mr. Bobb rule the day, better things may be ahead and
a new image may emerge. Blaming the media for putting a mirror up to the city is just plain ignorant.

**OriginalG313** · April-27-10, 02:26 PM

http://apps.detnews.com/apps/blogs/d...ider/index.php

Sheffield gets 15 minutes with NBC's Chris Hansen

The Rev. Horace Sheffield III is back from his mission to New York, where he met with NBC to complain about journalist Chris Hansen's treatment of Detroit on "Dateline." NBC officials stood their ground, but Sheffield did get something out of the trek: An interview by Chris Hansen.
One of Sheffield's chief complaints: Hansen shot months of footage, left most on the cutting room floor for "America Now: City of Heartbreak and Hope" and posted the rest on MSNBC's Web site. What is NBC doing with the Sheffield interview? Putting it on the Web site.
To some, that may be like complaining about food poisoning and getting a free dessert. But to each their own. Here's the interview, in which Sheffield likens Bing's plans to downsize Detroit to "ethnic cleansing" and says that, despite Kwame Kilpatrick's failings, some feel the city still may be better off if he was in charge.