I have received some (not a majority) emails and comments from viewers / bloggers who are critical of our persistence in the Natalee Holloway investigation.  You will receive no apology from me on this one.  In fact, I appreciate what MY network has done in supporting us...let's review some facts and perhaps you will understand.

First, some background: here are the networks that covered Natalee Holloway disappearance in 2005:

ABC News

ABC shows (eg The View, 20/20)

NBC

MS/NBC

Fox News Channel

CNN

CNN International

CNN Headline News

CBS (and their entertainment shows.)

The story reaped big ratings for everyone at first...so all of the above stuck with it during that time.  But then the ratings slipped...and it got very expensive to pursue the story since it is international one and it is also disruptive to lives to have to keep traveling...and, most importantly, it just got hard to do.  Leads dried up.  It meant journalists had to really, really, really work -- and be willing to have disappointment when leads went no where.  It also meant giving up weekends etc since we also had to move on to other stories in the news. Plus, we got a great deal of resistance from the Arubans and the Dutch.

So what happened?

All of the above networks except one -- FOX NEWS CHANNEL - gave up.  Fox could have given up.  It sure is expensive and the times are lean for all in the media.  We could have spent the huge amount of money on some flashy full page ads about ourselves....we didn't.   Fox has backed ON THE RECORD and I appreciate it.  This has  been very, very, very expensive.

The topic may not be so hot for viewers now but it remains important.  A missing American matters. If you had a family member missing, I hope we could help in some way.  Yes, there are other missing Americans and I wish I could work as much on those (maybe after we get answers with Natalee Holloway, I will!)

I am proud that Fox News Channel is not so easily swayed by cost, by ratings...but rather sees the importance of doing what we can. Sometimes doing the right thing is the right thing to do.  We have worked behind the scenes on this story since the beginning.  Weekends have been given up by many.  We have done other topics while scrambling to investigate this one.  We feel a loyalty to you the audience (I would think you would feel "had" if we simply dumped it after spending so much time on it) and more importantly, we feel we owe it to those who love Natalee.

I don't know if we will ever find out what happened to Natalee Holloway on May 30, 2005...but at least we can say at Fox News Channel with great pride "we tried...we really tried."

So what prompted this blog entry? Read below a GretaWire comment and a quick response from me: