Deception for Journalism's Sake: A Database

Deception for Journalism's Sake: A Database

Hospitals and Clinics Undercover

Journalists have devised any number of ruses to get inside hospitals and clinics --  as patients or staff members.

hospitals, lived as, mental hospitals, posed as, sanitariumsm, worked as

Antebellum Undercover

Redpath, Olcott, Richardson and Thomson all went South for the New York Tribune and produced reporting undercover in the run-up to the Civil War.

antebellum, civil war, Facts of Slavery, John Brown, posed as, slave auctions, south, southern newspapers, used code

"Blackbirding" - The Slave System's Just-as-Evil Twin?

Journalists from the United States and Australia get inside the post-Civil War practice of recruiting Pacific Islanders to work the world's non-U.S. plantations on extended contracts of indenture.

colonialism, George Morrison, indenture, J.D. Melvin, missionaries, San Francisco Chronicle, slave ships, slavery, The Age, The Argus, the south, Undercover, W.H. Brommage

Undercover Journalism Debated

Undercover journalism has been the subject of heated discussions, especially since the late 1970s, and whenever an undercover sting causes a stir.

controversy, debate, discussion, food lion. turkmenistan, MIrage Tavern

The Presidents Club Scandal and Other Such Undercover Exposes

 An undercover investigation by the Financial Times of behavior toward hostesses at The Presidents Club's annual men-only charity event in London and reaction to the story. 

employed as, Financial Times, groping, hired as, hostesses, London, Presidents Club, sexual harassment

Young Conservatives Investigate

The work of groups such as James O'Keefe's Project Veritas and Lila Rose's LiveAction and their undercover operations.

ACORN, census, conservative activism, James O'Keefe, medicare, NPR, planned parenthood, posed as, Undercover, Veritas, video

Asylums Undercover

Since the 1870s, journalists have been posing as patients or attendants to expose horrid conditions and treatment inside mental hospitals. Nellie Bly, incidentally, was not the first. 

asylums, insane asylum, posed as, worked as