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For their Christmas fare, NBC had Janet Shamlian file the standard feature on the Postal Service's Letters to Santa operation, which invites strangers to respond to children's begging letters addressed to the North Pole with a wish granted. Unexpectedly, Shamlian stumbled upon an actual news story: the Santa program had been halted nationwide because one of the letters had been attemptedly answered by a registered sex offender in Maryland. Steve Hartman, for CBS' Assignment America returned to Kansas City where last year he had profiled the continuation of the Secret Santa cash-giveaway tradition after its founder died. Now anonymous financiers are giving away cash in Detroit, Charlotte, St Louis, Phoenix and San Diego too.
Both Shamlian and Hartman were struck by this Christmas' Dickensian mood. "This year the requests reflect a holiday of hardships," mused Shamlian after reading the North Pole letters. "Santa and his helpers say people are always grateful," Hartman conceded, "but this year the reactions…what a sobering economic indicator this is."
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