Tim Sandler, Allison Orr, Chris Hansen, et al.

The accounts receivable management industry is no stranger to negative press. But Dateline NBC took the matter a step further when it aired an exposé of sorts on collector behavior on March 27.

Dateline’s piece contained much of the usual reporting that collectors are accustomed to: purposeful focus on the struggles of selected consumers, recordings of menacing collection calls, a near-pathological assertion that collection agents spend their day harassing people that owe nothing, etc. But Dateline decided to take it all the way and ambush collectors at a bar and record hidden camera conversations that were aired on network TV.

There was far more to the segment than the hidden camera footage. And to be fair, the industry was represented by ACA in the piece. But the producers held up as exemplar of an entire industry the words of three or four happy-houring collectors.

Reaction to the piece, at least on insideARM, has been overwhelming. Many have spoken out about the collectors’ employer’s decision to terminate those caught on camera ("ARM Firm Responds to Hidden Camera Footage on Dateline," March 30). Although it typically falls on deaf ears in the broader media, the ARM industry must continue to defend itself against one-sided attacks like the one launched by Dateline.