Behind the scenes; a look at my time working with Dateline

"I'm Shay McAlister, and this is Shay Informed: an independent, ad-free platform dedicated to honest journalism with compassion and clarity.

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Producers with the legendary true crime show Dateline first reached out to me years ago. The Crystal Rogers case was one they had been following, but they really started diving in once there was an arrest.

The first time I met a member of the team was at Brooks Houck's arraignment in September of 2023. One of the producers introduced herself and told me she had seen my work on the case and was interested in talking with me about appearing in an upcoming episode on Crystal.

Everybody knows Dateline, and the show's reputation for excellence, so an opportunity to be part of that was thrilling for me!

But the excitement didn't last.