Hidden Cameras and Undercover Reporting: A necessary lie

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Hidden CamerasandUndercover ReportingA
necessary lie

• Mabel Sieh

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Ian Buruma Hidden camera, whisky parties and
prostitutes

• tehelka - a website for investigative journalism
  in India set up by Tarun J Tejpal
  
• Exposed high-government corruption by sending two
  undercover reporters to work on an elaborate
  sting, involving hidden cameras, whisky parties,
  and prostitutes
• Result The president of BJP, Bangaru Laxman had
  to resign when the material was distributed to
  television stations all over India
  

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Ian Buruma Hidden camera, whisky parties and
prostitutes

• Good journalism, and then the truth is there for
  all to see - didn't we see Bangaru Laxman, the
  BJP president, accept cash? Didn't we all see
  Jaya Jaitly ask funds to be transferred to the
  Samata party apart from all those officers -
  there was both visual and audio evidence and
  print too - so what more do we need?The truth is
  staring at us for us to act. (Raj Chengappa,
  Editor, India Today)

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From newspapers and magazines

• tehelka has been an earthquake in Indian
  politics. (Vinod Mehta, Business Week)
  
• tehelka is now one of the best sources of news
  in India In an atmosphere of increased official
  intimidation of religious minorities and
  political opponents, Tehelka plays a vital
  role... Its exposure of high-government
  corruption was something most newspaper and
  magazine editors would almost certainly avoid
  (Ian Buruma, The Guardian)

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Hidden Cameras and Undercover Reporting

• THE CAMERA DOESNT LIE BUT GOVTS DO

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Tom OSullivan Who's exposing who?

• MacIntyre Undercover - An investigative TV series
  on BBC1
  
• The filming of a sickening sight of a mentally
  handicapped woman being "restrained" in a
  residential care home She was dragged out of the
  chair by her hair, pinned down on the floor by
  three people, when the fourth forced her face
  into the carpet by standing on the back of her
  head.

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Tom OSullivan Who's exposing who?

• Without the camera, the incident would have gone
  unnoticed.

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Consultation Paper on Regulation of Media
Intrusion

• One of the primary goals of journalism is to seek
  and report the truth. However people often
  conceal information of public importance that
  could prove embarrassing or damaging to them.
• Without these methods, investigative journalism
  might sometimes be impossible, evidence of crime,
  anti-social behavior or inefficiency of officials
  might never be uncovered and exposed.

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Journalists however should

• have reason to believe that the value of the
  information sought is of vital public interest
  
• ensure that news-gathering activities are lawful
  in the criminal and civil sense
  
• ensure that the information cannot be obtained by
  non-deceptive means
  
• observe the principle that the kind and degree of
  deception/intrusion is proportionate to the evil
  to be exposed

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Poynter Institute for Media Studies (US)

• When the information obtained is of profound
  importance. eg revealing great system failure
  at the top levels, or preventing profound harm to
  individuals
• When all other alternatives for obtaining the
  same information have been exhausted
  
• When the harm prevented by the information
  revealed through deception outweighs any harm
  caused by the act of deception

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More criteria ...

• When the journalists involved are willing to
  disclose the nature of deception and the reason
  for it
  
• When the individuals involved and their news
  organisation apply excellence, through
  outstanding craftsmanship as well as the
  commitment of time and funding needed to pursue
  the story fully
• When the journalists involved have conducted a
  meaningful, collaborative, and deliberate
  decision-making process on the ethical and legal
  issues

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• The use of means that are not straight forward to
  obtain information and photographs can be
  justified only by over-riding considerations of
  the public interest. (Hong Kong Journalists
  Association's Code of Ethics)
• People that I come into contact with have come
  to expect it in situations where it's not just
  for the entertainment value but because it brings
  a credibility to stories and a depth to some of
  the things that you can say is going on in any
  given situation that you can't get in any other
  way. (Pam Zekman, WBBM, Chicago)

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Some undercover cases to ponder onNews about
human lives(Sophie Beach, Committee to Project
Journalists, NY)

• Tin Mine Accident in Guangxi On July 16, 2001,
  up to 400 miners had been trapped and 81 killed
  when hot water flooded the adjoining Lajiapo and
  Longshan Mines, near the town of Nandan in
  Guangxi Province
• Li Dongming, the owner of the mines denied it,
  the central government dismissed it, families of
  the trapped miners were offered money to shut up,
  reporters hassled and threatened by gangsters

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Undercover cases News about human lives

• Undercover journalists went in as relatives of a
  miner and interviewed townspeople and miners,
  and were told that dead bodies were carried out
  of the mines and quickly transported away
• Nandan residents read reports on the Internet.
  Journalists published their exposes in papers
  around the country
  
• The central government sent an investigative team
  which found at least 81 miners had been killed.
  Li Dongming and 90 others were arrested for the
  accident and for the conspiracy to cover it up

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Comments on Chinese press freedom battles by
Sophie Beach, CPJ

• A journalist who exposes a local officials dirty
  laundry can quickly become the target of violence
  and intimidation
  
• If change is to come, it will be due to the
  persistence and professionalism of journalists
  like Jiang Weiping, the Southern Weekend editors,
  and those who exposed the Guangxi mining disaster

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Undercover cases News about social issues (The
Heretical Press, England)

• Cannibalism in China In April 1995, reporters
  from EastWeek went to Shenzhen to check out on
  rumors about some doctors in Shenzhen hospitals
  eating dead fetuses after carrying out abortions.
  
• A undercover reporter entered the state-run
  Shenzhen Health Center for Women and Children
  feigning illness and asked a female doctor for a
  fetus. The doctor said the department was out of
  stock but to come again. The next day the
  reporter returned. The doctor eventually emerged
  from the operating theatre holding a fist size
  glass bottle stuffed with thumb-sized fetuses.
  Its free.

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Undercover cases News about social Issues

• At the Shenzhen People's Hospital, the reporter
  was told by a Head nurse that fetuses were only
  for sale within the hospital, and were not for
  public purchase. She added that some staff would,
  however, sell the fetuses to Hong Kong buyers
• The going rate for a fetus was 10 but when the
  merchandise was in short supply, the price could
  go up to 20. In private clinics it could go up
  to 300

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Undercover cases News about social Issues

• In January this year, London's Channel 4 aired a
  documentary called Beijing Swings, which featured
  photos of "China's most infamous contemporary
  cannibal" - the artist Zhu Yu - shown eating what
  was purported to be an aborted human fetus
  (Report from the Guardian, UK / Pictures from
  Rotten.com )
• The following pictures may cause discomfort.

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Cannibalism in China
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More undercover cases ...

• About Justice and Fairness Exploitation of
  Filipino maids
  
• About Health and Poisoning food Watermelon
  seeds rat poison etc. in the fake food industry
  
• About World Issues Aids, Ivory market in China
• and more ...

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Drawbacks

• Investigative journalism is expensive (tehelka)
• Reporting done under hugely dangerous
  circumstances
  
• Faked material There is no way to prove it
  (Carltons The Connection, Food Lion)
  
• A public image problem

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Hidden Cameras and Undercover Reporting

• I think there are times when you might want to
  set up a sting because it's the only way you can
  get a story, and again it's really a decision on
  what's going to be the impact of the story and
  how important it is to your community or
  country. (Robert Rosenthal, The Philadelphia
  Inquirer)
• I do think we need to watch our use of things
  like hidden cameras. Why do we use them? When do
  we use them? Do we only use them when they're
  needed, or do we use them to perhaps improve
  ratings? I also think we need to be very careful
  about how we go about doing our reporting. (Mike
  McGraw, The Kansas City Star)

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Hidden Cameras and Undercover Reporting

• Is it necessary Yes
• The question is Why, When and How