Transcript Undercover Reporting

Undercover
Reporting
Danielle Brennan
Kelsey Gerckens
Christine Gorney
Sean Hanrahan
Megan Hassler





When is undercover reporting OK?
When is it necessary?
To what extent/how far should you go?
Is it ever necessary under particular
circumstances, such as those of national
security?
What does a reporter have the right to
broadcast as news, and what should the
reporter broadcast, after receiving news in
this way?
“Avoid undercover or other surreptitious
methods of gathering information except when
traditional open methods will not yield
information vital to the public. Use of such
methods should be explained as part of the
story.”
Decline of Undercover Reporting

The decline of undercover reporting, and
of investigative reporting in general,
reflects the increasing conservatism and
cautiousness of the media.
The Ken Silverstein Case
"Their Men in Washington: Undercover with D.C.'s Lobbyists for Hire"
Harper Magazine
The Potter Box
Facts
• Ken Silverstein, editor of Harper’s Magazine, went undercover and
posed as a man named Kenneth Case and said he was from the
Maldon Group.
• He approached the lobbying firm APCO and asked them to help
improve the public image of Turkmenistan, which he didn’t mention
was “run by an ugly, neo-Stalinist regime.”
• The lobbyists from Cassidy & Associates and APCO accepted.
According to Ken Silverstein they were going to charge almost $1.5
million to:
1) send congressional delegations to Turkmenistan
2) write and plant opinion pieces in newspapers under the names of
academics and think-tank experts they would recruit
3) set up supposedly "independent" media events in Washington
that would promote Turkmenistan
CON: Potter Box
 ValuesDeceit and Lying vs. Truth
 Principles –
Kant: right is right no matter what
 LoyaltiesJournalist are loyal to truth, ethics and
their sources
PRO: Potter Box

Values
• Greater good vs. truth

Principles
• As John Stuart Mill said, the public has a right to know.
If it is something important to know then undercover
reporting can be justified for the greater good of society.
• Aristotle advocates the middle ground, or compromise,
suggesting that undercover reporting can vary in ethical
value from one case to the next.

Loyalties
• Lobbying groups are loyal to their customers and to
accomplish their goals pursue the case undercover.
• Journalists are loyal to their news organization and must
follow their code of ethics.
CON
Howard Kurtz Article
•Ken Silverstein says he lied, deceived and fabricated to
get the story.
•Howard Kurtz says, “The reason is that, no matter how
good the story, lying to get it raises as many questions
about journalists as their subjects.”
•"What bothers me most," says APCO's Cooper about
the story in the July issue, "was there was never a
moment where he unveiled himself and asked us to
comment on anything we did wrong, because we didn't
do anything wrong. They never called us to say, 'You got
punked.' "
CON
Poynter Guidelines
 Information must be of profound
importance
 There are no other ways to obtain the
information
 Journalist is willing to disclose deception
to the public and people involved
 Benefits to public outweigh harm caused
by deception
“There is a hint of hypocrisy
when we use some form of
deceit to pursue truth.”
Bob Steele, Poynter
PRO
Ten Days in the
Madhouse





Nellie Bly, successful female journalist in the 1880’s in New
York
Wrote for the World and agreed to go undercover to
investigate the abuses occurring at insane asylums
Feigned insanity and entered Blackwell Island’s Asylum
Experienced and witnessed various abuses: nurses
physically abusing patients, feeding patients vermininfested foods, admitting people that were not insane but
simply physically ill
Result: New York officials launched an investigation and
raised funds by over $1 million each year to make sure that
these asylums kept up with regulations
PRO
EthicNet Guidelines
for Undercover Journalism:
“The general rule is that a journalist has to be open in his actions. It means that
he/she announces in every professional contact that he/she is a journalist.
Journalism in which the journalist assumes another function or another
identity, for example when so-called undercover reports are made, may be
pursued only exceptionally.”
Deviation from this rule is allowed only if all of the
following conditions are met:

1. The information that the journalist hopes to obtain has great social relevance, as is
the case in social evils or human rights violations.

2. The usual journalistic methods that are used when gathering information are not
sufficient to achieve the desired goal.

3. The risks that may go with the use of the undercover method are in an acceptable
proportion to the desired goal.

4. The decision on the use of an undercover report as well as the realization and the
publication of the report are made with the consent and under the responsibility of
the editor-in-chief or his/her representative.
“Done well, at the right time, for the right
reasons, undercover reporting can support
substantive, compelling journalism that
serves citizens and society. Journalism
based on subterfuge and stealth-- when
ethically justified and skillfully practiced-has revealed government corruption,
serious manufacturing malpractice, and
epidemic racial discrimination in our
communities.”
Bob Steele, Poynter
CON




Hidden Cameras
Often misused/overused
Deception and misrepresentation
“short cut” in reporting
Used for “gotcha” stories
CON
TO CATCH A PREDATOR






Lorne Armstrong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRM6unwsO_A&N
R=1
Not Journalism
Lied to get story
Faked as a 13-year-old girl
Should be left to the police to take care of
Could become dangerous
CON
 Humiliating to the predator could lead to suicide
and destroying the life of the person
 http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2008/0
6/nbc-resolves-la.html
 Louis William Conradt Jr., a 56-year-old assistant
county prosecutor in a Dallas suburb, shot himself in
November 2006 when officers showed up at his house
as part of a pedophilia sting arranged by Dateline.
 suicide, interfering with police duties and putting the
predator in harms way
 yes, it is good to catch these “Predators”, but it is not the
journalist job to lie about who they are and go undercover to
get it.
PRO



Hidden Cameras may be
Necessary
Sometimes, a story is only credible
with visual proof
Knowledge of a camera present often
causes subjects to put on a facade
Hidden cameras may be the only way
to capture valid proof of certain
issues, such as in cases where courts
mandate evidence
PRO





Mirage Bar
Pamela Zekman, reporter at WBBM-TV in Chicago
Chicago-Sun Time bought and opened a tavern in
Chicago, naming it “The Mirage”
Zekman posed as a bar maid
Exposed the rampant bribery going on between
bar owners and inspectors/authority figures so
that they would overlook health and safety
regulations
Sun-Times photographers took pictures of the
transactions from the loft upstairs
PRO
“The Mirage investigation, which received national
coverage from ’60 Minutes’ and other media, is a
great piece of Chicago history.”
Nerissa Young, SPJ’s Project Watchdog Committee
“There were many surprises along the way. But the
project’s main duty was to prove if what we
suspected was true. Mayor Richard J. Daley
would always say to reporters who asked him
about corruption in the city, ‘Where’s your proof?’
The Mirage investigation offered an answer to his
question.”
Hugh Smith, SPJ
Conclusion


Undercover reporting is something that has been
going on for as long journalism has played a
major role in public awareness
Though it is becoming more prevalent, it is
simultaneously becoming much more
controversial, as techniques become further
developed, consequences become more
extreme, and news worthy issues become more
complex
“Journalistic ethicists agreed that undercover
reporting is pointless and unethical ‘when you
indulge in subterfuge to merely provide the
conventional wisdom with a concrete example.’
The irony in that judgment, of course, is that the
most successful undercover reporting often does
just that, putting a face to social problems we
know only vaguely about “
Lisa Gulya