Comm 409 Undercover Reporting A tradition of Undercover Reporting and prisons in late 1800s Nellie Blyz Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman of New Your worked in Sweatshops Donald Bartlett Clevelend Plain Dealer hospital for insane Ben Bagdikian Washington Post prison inmate in PA Chicago Sun Times bought bar to set up a sting of municipal workers taking bribes Food Lion ABC s Prime Time Live Producers lie on employment applications to get jobs as meat workers for Food Lion Smuggled cameras capture workers doing really gross things with meat Segment airs in 1992 Food Lion promptly sues for fraud and trespass Food Lion originally awarded 5 5 Million amount reduced after several appeals Testing the System Journalism s Response to Tragedy o Sept 11 2001 News organizations decide to test effectiveness of airport screening procedures o Shootings at a Pennsylvania Amish school in 2006 and Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown Conn in December 2012 Journalists test access to supposedly secure schools Sometimes It Works o Journalists have an underlying yearning to test systems When should you use undercover reporting Consider purpose of the story Does it meet standard of serving the public interest Does story reveal new information or simply document what is already known Is there any other way to get the story o Somewhat similar to standards used to determine if unnamed sources warranted Are the journalists willing to reveal deception as part of the story Guidance for Using Deception as a Reporting Tool Am I willing to break the law in order to test the system Will my methods pose a risk to the public Am I wiling to commit the resources to fully report the story to ensure that Am I willing to go the extra mile to get comment from those accused of my results are accurate wrongdoing Can I incorporate experts into my planning process and still not give up my independence as a journalist or become swayed by the sources motives Could my reporting actually provide a how to guide for those seeking to do evil Misrepresentation Call it deception lite or bluster Reporter pretends to know more than he does to get interviews source to admit to wrongdoing Used to ask questions only The bluster is used in the story only if it is independently confirmed Deception Odds Ends Nearly universal agreement that it s never OK to deceive the audience But it might be OK to deceive sources and others who provide the access When undercover deceptive reporting backfires journalists run the risk of losing the story they are trying to tell even ones that serve the public interest Done well at the right time for the right reasons undercover reporting can support some substantive compelling journalism that serves citizens and society