Browse Primary Sources
"The Messiah of Mentukwa" - Anas Aremeyaw Anas
"She convinced her followers to travel miles away from their friends, families and possessions to a place where they were to live a holy life in preparation for the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. They settled in the bushes of Mentukwa – far from the prying eyes of the public and the scrutiny of authorities.In this groundbreaking documentary, ace undercover reporter Anas Aremeyaw Anas joined the church. He took the name Joseph Jesus Christ. With his hidden camera, Anas went behind the history and the operations of the church by dispelling myths."
"Patrick Mercer declares payment he accepted from undercover reporters" - Peter Dominiczak - The Telegraph
". . .A Daily Telegraph and BBC Panorama investigation found that the MP for Newark, had tabled five questions to government ministers and put down a parliamentary motion after being paid a total of £4,000 as part of a contract he believed would earn him £24,000 a year. The parliamentary questions were based on a draft given to him by an undercover reporter purporting to be a lobbyist for businesses with interests in Fiji. . ."
The Telegraph 2013-06-18
"Fakes, fraud and forgery in Lloyds PPI selling scandal" - James Dean - The Times (London)
". . .An investigation by The Times into Lloyds Banking Group has found that contractors employed at its largest PPI complaint handling unit were taught how to play the system to the detriment of clients. . ."
The London Times Tuesday, June 11, 2013
"Undercover Times probe reveals Lloyds PPI complaints failures" - Daniel Grote - New Model Adviser
". . .An undercover Times reporter went through the recruitment and training process to work as a complaints handler at Royal Mint Court in London.He was told that some bank salesman had faked PPI information in agreements on loan sales, and that complaint handlers should effectively turn a blind eye to the risk of fraud. . ."
New Model Adviser 2013-06-11
"Three Pinnacol Board Members go on Luxury Company Trip" - CALL7 - ABC News Denver
". . .The video shows three Pinnacol board members Board President Gary Johnson, ethics member Debra Lovejoy and board member Ryan Hettich golfing at $495 a round, staying in rooms that the hotel says start at $695 a night and enjoying dinner and cocktail parties. Johnson brought his wife and Lovejoy was joined by her fiancée. . ."
ABC News 2010-08-12
"Cruel Fraud" - Pia Malbran, Lamont L. Belton, Jeff Glor - CBS News
CBS News 2013-03-12
"Undercover Reporter 'Haunted' by Abuse of Patients" - Joe Casey - BBC Panorama
On a near-daily basis, I watched as some of the very people entrusted with the care of society's most vulnerable targeted patients - often, it seemed, for their own amusement. They are scenes of torment that are not easily forgotten.The targets had no way of defending themselves or speaking out. Anyone who questioned the abuse met a wall of silence.
BBC News 2011-05-31
"Immigrants with No Criminal History Get Lengthy Stays at Private South Florida Facility" - Megan O'Matz - WPTV
". . .In a daring move, two young adults, both illegal immigrants brought by their families to the United States as children, turned themselves in to gain access to the center and expose what they claimed were human rights abuses and policy violations by federal authorities.Once inside, they said they found people unjustly arrested and subjected to lengthy and unnecessary confinement, and reported incidents of substandard or callous medical care, including a woman taken for ovarian surgery and returned the same day, still bleeding, to her cell, and a man who urinated blood for days but wasn't taken to see a doctor. . ."
WPTV 2013-01-06
"The NII Inside Out: A Sociologist Goes Undercover" - Lisa Siregar - The Jakarta Globe
". . .Dewi, a sociologist who graduated from the University of Indonesia, decided to look beyond the headlines to find out what the NII was really about after a few of her friends were recruited by the organization. She went undercover in the group in 2008 and 2009 and turned her findings into a book, “Mengapa Saya Memilih Negara Islam” (“Why I Choose an Islamic State”), which was released last month. In the book, Dewi shares her firsthand accounts of the NII’s recruitment methods and details interviews with six former members of the organization. Perhaps her most surprising finding was that the NII is hardly the threat to the state that is portrayed in the media. . ."
The Jakarta Globe 2011-07-24
"Outrage in Damascus After Israeli Reporters Enter Syria" - Unsigned - France 24
". . .Syria, in the grips of a deadly civil war, is not a safe place for journalists – 17 have been killed there in 2012, according to several NGOs.The country is doubly dangerous for Israelis. Syria is still officially at war with the Hebrew state and Israelis are unable to visit most of their neighbouring Arab countries. . ."
France 24 2012-12-20
"Cuba's Ladies in White" - Ivan Hernandez - People & Power
"After 53 years of revolution, Cubans are increasingly exasperated by the restrictions imposed on them by the country's change-averse communist regime. In spite of, or perhaps because of, recent modest economic reforms, activism is growing as the government's opponents overcome their fear of arrest and take to the streets. . ."
"Denver Undercover Investigation: Dentists With a Dark Side" - Heidi Hemmat - Fox 31 Denver
". . .We went under cover with hidden cameras and found practicing dentists who previously had their license suspended or revoked.Dentists including Larry Haws. According to Colorado dental board records, Haws issued “over 130 prescriptions” for powerful pain killers to himself. He pleaded guilty to drug possession and was asked by the state to surrender his license in 2002. In an effort to get his license back, Haws agreed to random drug testing. But then he tested positive for Benzodiazepines, another powerful tranquilizer. . ."
Fox News 2012-11-08
"Staged on ABC" - Michelle Malkin - National Review Online
". . .On Monday, the local Fox affiliate in Birmingham, Ala., blew the whistle on an ABC News sting operation intended to elicit bigoted responses from local residents. The national ABC News program Primetime Live hired actors to pose as same-sex couples and engage in public displays of affection on a park bench. Birmingham police department sources told the Fox affiliate about the social experiment; a local merchant spotted an RV where the ABC crew was stationed. The merchant was told “ABC was working on a week-long project to see how people would react . . . A FOX6 news reporter approached the RV and talked with an ‘actor’ who said, ‘Yes, we are working for ABC News’" . . ."
"My Life As a Secret Policeman" - Mark Daly - BBC News (UK)
". . .We wanted to see what steps were being taken to eradicate this. But more importantly, we needed to see if they were working. The only way we could find out what was really happening was to become a police officer - asking questions openly as a journalist would not have uncovered the truth. . ."
BBC News 2003-10-21
"Army Trainers Suspended From Role" - Sophie Hutchinson - BBC News (UK)
"It comes as the BBC prepares to screen a report on an undercover investigation into bullying of recruits at the Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire. A reporter who spent six months as an infantry recruit at the base uncovered evidence of physical abuse. . ."
BBC News 2008-09-18
"'I Did Two Jobs - Reporter and Soldier'" - Russell Sharp - BBC News (UK)
". . .I never forgot why I was there; I had to be the best recruit I could be while at the same time investigating whether the Army had kept its promise to stamp out bullying. In my platoon I saw two corporals lose their temper and break the rules, punching recruits or grabbing them by the neck and throwing them to the ground. . ."
BBC News 2008-09-18
"Pasco Sheriff Spurs Challenge on Radio Show" - Lucy Morgan and Jack Reed - St. Petersburg Times
". . .In an emotional phone call broadcast Friday morning by WDCF in Dade City, realtor Lewis Abraham asked Short either to deny that the sheriff's office ever investigated him or to submit himself to an examination that would determine if Short was lying. . ."
St. Petersburg Times 1983-12-17
"Doing Business with the Boss in Pasco" - Jack Reed and Lucy Morgan - St. Petersburg Times
"When Pasco County Sheriff John M. Short wants to buy or sell a piece of property or find a business partner, he often turns to his employees. While building his personal wealth, the sheriff has done business with at least eight subordinates and surrounded himself with fellow entrepreneurs. . ."
St. Petersburg Times 1983-12-11
"Big Hit" - Joel Grover - IRE Journal
". . .In some ways, our mechanic investigation was a classic local consumer expose. It uncovered wrongdoing at Jiffy Lube, the nation's largest lube and tune chain, which serves 30 million customers per year. Acting on a tip from an insider, we caught some L. A. Jiffy Lube locations charging customers for repairs that were never done. The story had good undercover tape, a revealing interview from an insider and a compelling confrontation with a top manager who lied on camera. . ."
IRE Journal 2007-01-01
"Stalking the Stalkers" - Lisa Fletcher - Transcript
". . .There are powerful predators out there...looking, lurking and patiently waiting for you o turn your back on your kids and their computer just for a moment. So we turned the tables on them...for months...stalking the stalkers. . ."
"Weapons Still Fly at Airport" - Maki Becker and Greg Gittrich - New York Daily News
". . .To test the supposedly more stringent security imposed at the nation's airports after the Sept. 11 attacks, Daily News reporters boarded flights over the Labor Day weekend carrying contraband - including box cutters, razor knives and pepper spray. Not a single airport security checkpoint spotted or confiscated any of the dangerous items, all of which have been banned from airports and planes by federal authorities. The four airports where the Sept. 11 terrorists boarded planes - Newark International, Boston's Logan Airport, Washington's Dulles International and Portland International Jetport in Maine - were all breached during The News' undercover investigation. . ."
New York Daily News 2002-09-04
"Irresponsible Journalists are Jeopardizing Serious Investigations by the Press" - Christopher H. Pyle - The Chronicle of Higher Education
"In this century, there have been two great eras in American investigative journalism. The first, in the early 1900's, was led by muckraking journalists Ida Tarbell and Upton Sinclair. Tarbell's massive history in the Standard Oil Company helped break up that monopoly. Sinclair's 'The Jungle,' which exposed unsanitary conditions in the Chicago meat-packing industry, led to the Pure Food and Drug Act. . ."
The Chronicle of Higher Education 2000-01-07
"Lab Scam" - D.M. Osborne - Brill's Content
". . .Two months later, though, Devaraj learned that his guests were not who they said they were. They actually worked for ABC's PrimeTime Live and had secretly recorded every word and gesture. A week after that, on May 19, 1994, Devaraj and his wife Carolyn watched aghast as the newsmagazine accused the lab and three others of misreading women's Pap smears. . ."
"The Infamy of the Park" - Nellie Bly -New York World
"Many complaints have come, from time to time, to THE WORLD touching park policemen. Women complain that they dare not go to the Park alone because of the familiar and offensive manner of these officers—those paid guardians of property and quietness."
New York World 1888-08-05
"Prying, Spying, and Lying: Intrusive Newsgathering and What the Law Should Do About It" - Lyrissa Barnett Lidsky - Tulane Law Review
"Prying, spying, and lying are tools of the trade to a significant portion of today's 'gotcha' journalists. Market pressures require journalists not just to get the story, but to cast it in a dramatic way. Journalists therefore resort to a variety of intrusive newsgathering tools: they adopt false identities and employ hidden cameras, they hound subjects in the streets and stake out their home, they trail police into the homes of crime suspects and crime victims, and they follow ambulance workers to obtain graphic footage or accident scenes."
Tulane Law Review 1998-11-01
"Sex Slaves" - Ester Bienstock - PBS Frontline
PBS 2006-02-07
"Girls for Sale" - Cynthia McFadden, Diane Sawyer - ABC News 20/20
ABC News 20/20 1998-03-18