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Both CBS and ABC had Halloween close their newscasts. ABC's John Berman observed that the holiday is switching its appeal from children to grown-ups. Adults get to experiment with a fantasy role one night a year: "It has become the Las Vegas of holidays. What happens on Halloween stays on Halloween." He consulted psychologist Ann Demarais, author of First Impressions, to illustrate the secret desires revealed by costume choices. A hedge fund manager becomes a hippie. A children's nanny becomes a witch. A physician becomes a cow? Stumped, Demarais suggested that "there might be other animals that--you know--want to hang out with a cow." Muttered Berman: "Sometimes psychology only goes so far."
Expressing forbidden fantasies in costume may be fine for adults but CBS' Michelle Miller drew the line at pre-teens. She prudishly protested the popularity of slutty outfits for prepubescent girls. "Little ghouls gone wild," she called them as they exposed belly buttons and donned fishnet stockings. Miller is entitled to her own opinion, even a bluenosed one. What she is not entitled to do as a reporter is misrepresent the soundbites she uses. "The trick is on the parents," she exclaimed. "Even five-year-olds are creeping out their moms." Yet each of the three mothers she interviewed contradicted Miller's thesis, endorsing her daughter's risque costume as "cute"…"stylish"…"sexy."
Dear reader, you will have to take our word on Miller's sloppy journalism. CBS decided not to post her story online. Probably the wise choice. In Miller's case what was broadcast on Halloween stays on Halloween.
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