Browse Primary Sources
"Prizefights: Donnybrook" - Myra McPherson - Washington Post
The Washington Post 1979-04-20
VII-"Hidden Cameras: Handle With Care" - Charlie Thompson - Radio Television Digital News Association
"I am not in love with hidden cameras. They can be very dangerous. They can be compared to rapid-firing, semiautomatic pistols adopted by most police forces in the past decade and replace the more reliable six-shot revolvers."
Radio Television Digital News Association 1998-01-01
"Silenced for Their Work: Journalists Are at Risk Throughout the World" - Abi Wright - IRE Journal
". . .Tim Lopes, 50, was a TV news reporter investigating a story about traffickers abusing drugs and minors in Brazil's favela, or slums. . .He was filming undercover when he was discovered to be a reporter. According to two suspects, Lopes was kidnapped, beaten, shot in the feet to keep him from escaping, and sentenced to death at a mock trial. . ."
IRE Journal 2003-03-01
"Legal Brief: Undercover Probe Winds Up In Court" - Dale Spencer - IRE Journal
". . .The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court to the Western District of Missouri claiming that the undercover news operation had raised issues that had caused damage to the hospital. . ."
IRE Journal 1987-05-01
"Debating Deception" - Rosemary Armao - IRE Journal
". . .Juries, however, and the public we don't talk to enough about such matters, sometimes don't make the distinctions between important, solid journalism and sleaze. The really scary thing is that many newsroom decision-makers don't either. . ."
IRE Journal 1997-01-01
"Apologies to ABC, Producers" - IRE Journal Staff - IRE Journal
". . .While preparing her article, Davidson did not attempt to contact either ABC or the producers, and Journal editor Steve Weinberg did not ensure that Davidson did so in the editing nor did he. . ."
IRE Journal 1999-07-01
"Beyond the Muckrakers" - Edmund B. Lambeth - IRE Journal
". . .The process of ethical judgement is an act of valuing, and valuing occurs at several levels. It can be argued for example, that actively deceiving might permit greater proximity to the facts, placing a reporter closer to the truth than would second-hand, derivative methods. . ."
IRE Journal 1988-07-01
"In Greensboro: Damning Undercover Tactics as 'Fraud'" - Russ Baker - Columbia Journalism Review
". . .It was not about the merits of ABC's 1992 PrimeTime Live report, which chronicled what appeared to be a range of stomach-turning food-handling practices in deli and meat departments of the grocery chain, based in Salisbury, North Carolina. Food Lion v. ABC was not a libel case. Although the 1,100-store chain has maintained that the report was false, it did not sue over the question of truth. . ."
Columbia Journalism Review 1997-03-01
"Trash Tort or Trash TV?: Food Lion, Inc. V. ABC, Inc., and Tort Liability of the Media for Newsgathering" - Charles C. Scheim - St. John's Law Review
". . .Subjects of unfavorable or intrusive media investigations have changed legal tactics and have brought actions against the media under tort theories that differ from the traditional suits in defamation and libel. Media supporters have called these suits a "wave of `trash torts.'" Rather than seeking damages for the publication of injurious reports, plaintiffs have claimed that the newsgathering activities of the media prior to publication were tortious. Such plaintiffs have argued that the media does not have any special constitutional protections in gathering news, seizing upon the Supreme Court's general statement that 'generally applicable laws do not offend the First Amendment simply because their enforcement against the press has incidental effects on its ability to gather and report the news' . . ."
St. John's Law Review 1998-12-01
"Investigation of Stephen J. Dubner & Steven D. Levitt Article" - Charles Patton - Florida Times Union
". . . As Dubner and Leavitt contend, The Klan Unmasked is not a straightforward work of nonfiction. Although all of the events described in the narrative are supported by documents in the collection, a few have been embellished and quite a few have been given a slightly different context. A number of incidents described firsthand by Kennedy in the book were actually witnessed by someone else or came from third-party accounts . . ."
Florida Times-Union 2006-01-29
"Hoodwinked?" - Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt - New York Times Magazine
". . . Kennedy has been duly celebrated for his activism: his friend Woody Guthrie once wrote a song about him, and a Stetson Kennedy Day was recently declared in St. John's County, Fla., where Kennedy, 89, still lives. That is where we interviewed him nearly two years ago; our account of his amazing true story was based on those interviews, "The Klan Unmasked" and a small mountain of history books and newspaper articles. . . "
New York Times Magazine 2006-01-08
"Survey on TV Reporting: How We Think About Surveillance Journalism" - Charles Burke - IRE Journal
". . .Virtually all support the use of hidden cameras and mikes, when deemed necessary, in TV investigations. They do so to virtually the same extent irrespective of their job classifications. They are, however, less sanguine about going 'undercover' . . ."
IRE Journal 1989-01-01
"Trying to Stir Public Awareness" - James Ettema - IRE Journal
". . .'There are lots of stories about social issues that are interesting,' Zekman says, 'but unless they have that investigative edge, I'm not interested' . . ."
IRE Journal 1989-07-01
"Abortion News in the Late 1920s: A New York City Case Study" - Marvin Olasky - Journalism Quarterly
". . .In July, 1926, the three sensational newspapers also reported a major abortion story, one that began when police found a body cut into pieces and packed into two boxes. 'The packing was done by a trained surgeon,' the New York Journal noted on its first day of coverage, and cited police belief that the boxes were dropped accidentally while being sent to medical students for research. . ."
Journalism Quarterly 1989-10-01
"Biography of a Bookie Joint" - Jay McMullen - CBS News
CBS News 1961-11-30
"'Candid Camera' Gone Berserk?" - Unsigned - Newsweek
". . .Soon enough, reality programs will come up against reality. If these shows just copy each other--jerking another tear out of the Jessica DeBoer story, busting another chiropractor--they'll end up as just one more TV fad. On the other hand, if they can break the formula with fresh, quirky stories, news magazines may transform the late prime-time period into a nonfiction zone. . ."
Newsweek 1993-08-29
"An Awakening: Murrow and the Migrants" - Dale Wright Interview from Robert Miraldi's "Muckraking and Objectivity"
Greenwood Press 1990-01-01
"Hidden Network Cameras: A Troubling Trend" - Howard Kurtz - Washington Post
The Washington Post 1992-11-30
"Stung by Harper's in a Web of Deceit" - Howard Kurtz - Washington Post
"Ken Silverstein says he lied, deceuved and fabricated to get the story. But it was worth it, he insists. Those on the receiving end don't agree. . ."
The Washington Post 2007-06-25
"Lost Art of Infiltration" - William Gaines - Journalism
"No one in a newsroom today would dare suggest that a reporter get information through any kind of subterfuge and certainly not by secretly getting a job in the ranks of the target of a newspaper investigation. Such thoughts made the newspapers' lawyers very nervous in the 1970s and today I fear they would respond with derision."
Journalism 2007-09-12
"Going Undercover" - William C. Gaines - The IRE Journal
". . .The undercover account became the frosting on the cake of a thoroughly investigated story involving interviews of patients, medical experts, and former employees. We searched every available public record. My report was only about my experiences, not from overheard conversations or stolen documents. . ."
IRE Journal 1997-11-01
"Establishing constitutional malice for defamation and privacy/false light claims when hidden cameras and deception are used by the newsgatherer" - David A. Elder, Neville L. Johnson and Brian A. Rishwain - Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review
". . .A hidden camera story is essentially a 'grainy little morality play,' edited to heighten the entertainment value, where journalists go undercover to mythologize their work by becoming protagonists, modern, 'folk heroes' who ferret out wrongdoing as the superheroes of pop culture. . ."
Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review 2002-04-15
"Predicting Tolerance of Journalistic Deception" - Seow Ting Lee - Journal of Mass Media Ethics
"In journalism, with its emphasis on pursuing and publishing the truth, deception strikes at the heart of the profession. Truth telling, the inverse of deception, is a universal value and a fundamental given in the communications field. Journalists are expected to tell the truth, but in what appears to be a paradox, they may have to deceive to get the truth."
Journal of Mass Media Ethics 2005-01-01
"Defining and Analyzing Journalistic Deception" - Deni Elliott and Charles Culver - Journal of Mass Media Ethics
"Deception has been a tool of effective and award-winning reporting since 100 years ago when Nellie Bly went undercover to expose corruption in industry and government. It has also been a practice that has created additional distrust for journalists, who are already suffering from credibility problems."
Journal of Mass Media Ethics 1991-01-01
"Undercover Reporters, Tort Law, and the First Amendment: Food Lion v. ABC and the Future of Surreptitious Newsgathering" - Daniel A. Levin and Alan C. Roline - Kansas Journal of Law and Public Policy
". . .Because most of the alleged Food Lion misconduct occurred only in non-public areas of the stores, Dale and Barnett decided it would be necessary to pose as Food Lion employees to document whether the allegations were true. They planned to hide small video cameras and audio equipment on their persons, and use these devices to record the actions and statements of other Food Lion employees. Because Food Lion would not knowingly hire ABC reporters whose purpose was to investigate Food Lion’s practices, Dale and Barnett, with the UFCW’s help, created false identities and backgrounds, complete with supporting documentation. ABC’s upper management and legal department reviewed and approved all of the above activities. . ."
Kansas Journal of Law and Public Policy 2002-01-01
"Journalism Under Fire" - William A. Henry III - Time Magazine
". . .Another factor in provoking distrust is the suspicion that journalists care little about accuracy. When the Washington Post, New York Times and New York Daily News all discovered, during 1981 and 1982, that they had printed stories that reporters had embellished or invented, much of the public took extreme cases as typical of journalism and expressed delight that major news organizations had been humiliated. . ."
Time Magazine 1983-12-12
"Cover Ups" - Brooke Gladstone - On the Media - WNYC
"On the Media" - WNYC 2008-10-17
"Darts and Laurels" - Gloria Cooper - Columbia Journalism Review
"Posing as prospective home buyers in the $200,000 market, teams of black and white reporters visited fifteen agencies in Hartford and its suburbs and found that all too many black clients were subjected to financial grilling."
Columbia Journalism Review 1989-11-01
"Undercover Journalism" - Clarence Page - Chicago Tribune (syndicated)
" . . . Some say journalism will be better off without undercover journalism. There are better ways to get a story, they say. Sure. But not all stories."Undercover reporting was never meant to replace other, less dramatic forms of investigative journalism. But it tells some stories better than any other form. . . . "
Chicago Sun TimesBaltimore Sun 1997-02-14
"To Sting or Not to Sting?" - Marcel Dufresne - Columbia Journalism Review
"Newsday's staff devised the undercover plan in 1989 during early reporting for a groundbreaking series about segregation. If the scheme worked, it would expose an ugly and illegal discriminatory practice. But it also raised questions about deception, among other things."
Columbia Journalism Review 1991-05-01
"Some Real Estate Agents Discriminate Against Black Home Buyers" - Lyn Bixby, et. al. - Hartford Courant
". . . reporters who tested 15 real estate agencies in the Hartford area for compliance with state and federal fair housing laws, which require equal treatment and opportunity in selling and renting housing. "The Courant found extensive evidence of discrimination, measured by differents in how the testers were treated, and racial steering . . . "
Hartford Courant 1989-05-21
"White Lies: Bending the Truth to Expose Injustice" - Henry McNulty - Journalism Ethics Cases Online
"That "does-the-end-justify-the-means" dilemma confronted me this spring when my newspaper, The Hartford Courant, reported on racial bias among some area real estate firms. Reporters, appearing to be almost identical in every financial and personal detail except race, posed as potential home buyers to gather the evidence. In some cases, real estate agents gave the "testers" who were black tougher financial scrutiny. Other times, blacks were "steered" to towns that already have significant minority populations."
Indiana University 1989-08-01
"Real Estate Probe Built on Deception" - Henry McNulty - Hartford Courant
"The Courant staffers who showed up at real-estate offices pretended to be potential home buyers, but they were not. They used altered names, and provided other false information that masked their identities as reporters. In short, they didn't tell the truth. "In this case, was that so very wrong? Doesn't the result justify the falsehoods? . . . I say the lying was unjustified. It's not easy, or pleasant, to find fault with what The Courant did. But even when the goals are noble, and the results are positive for the community, I don't think journalists should lie."
Hartford Courant 1989-06-04
"Spurned in Spokane" - Edward Wasserman - Knight Ridder Tribune News Service
". . .The profession has turned against false pretenses. The reasons vary. There’s an unease about deception: If your job is to tell the truth you shouldn’t be lying. That seems high-minded, but it’s a cheap way around deciding whether the truth you’re after might justify the dissembling required to get it. . ."
Miami Herald 2005-05-17
"Exposure of Corruption Raises Questions About Reporters’ Masquerade" - Deirdre Carmody - New York Times
"Sun-Times photographers posing as repairmen took pictures of payoffs to inspectors from a hidden camera loft in the bar, which they called the Mirage. Two reporters, Pamela Zekman and Zay N. Smith, and two investigators from the Better Government Association in Chicago posed as waitress, bartenders and owner. They documented payoffs of $10 to $100 to city inspectors who ignored health and safety hazards...that the Sun-Times estimated cost the state of Illinois $16 million a year in sales tax alone and illegal kickbacks, tax skimming and offers of political fixes from jukebox and pinball machine operators."
The New York Times 1978-02-23
"Should Reporters Play Roles?" - Clayton Kirkpatrick & Gene Patterson - ASNE Bulletin
"I voted for the revised ethical code approved by ASNE in 1975, and I am sure he did also. There is no specific prohibition of role-playing in that statement of principles." (Kirkpatrick)"I reserve the right to infiltrate reporters if fakery is truly the last resort and the only way to serve a vital public interest." (Patterson)
ASNE Bulletin 1979-09-01
"Day Care Nightmare" - Tom Shales - The Washington Post
"An investigative team from the show visited New Orleans day care centers that, though privately run, receive some state funds, and found two of them to be frighteningly negligent. Hidden cameras show, among other horrors, one baby being tossed headfirst into a crib, then being smacked repeatedly by an attendant."
The Washington Post 1991-06-20
"Jezza Neumann on Undercover Reporting: 'It's hard to explain that fear in your gut'" - Jezza Neumann - The Independent
"It's illegal to work as a journalist in Tibet, so we knew that it was going to be a struggle even to get there, let alone to survive and report."
The Independent 2008-03-31
"Out of Sight" - Robert Lissit - American Journalism Review
"Phillips' credit on the story, aired on "PrimeTime Live" in May 1994, read "Producer." Many viewers probably didn't notice it. And if they did, most of them would have no idea what Phillips and his fellow producers do. But they play a crucial role in a network newsmagazine industry that, this season, will generate revenues estimated at $1 billion."
American Journalism Review 1994-12-01
"Gotcha!" - Robert Lissit - AJR
"Steele thinks hidden cameras can serve a valuable purpose, but says that 'journalists have misused and overused [them]. They're an important tool to have in a journalistic bag, but we should use them judiciously, conservatively and with the recognition that the stakes are very high, because the consequences for those individuals who are the subject of hidden cameras can be dire and the impact on journalistic credibility profound.'"
American Journalism Review 1995-04-01
Undercover Reporting Discouraged - Frank Sutherland - The Nashville Tennessean
During brainstorming sessions, I became known as the representative of lying, cheating and stealing. Not that I have done that a lot, but in undercover reporting in the past, The Tennessean has used deceptive practices. We acknowledged those deceptive practices to our readers, but still misrepresented ourselves to get the story.
The Nashville Tennessean 1999-07-01
"Why Those Hidden Cameras Hurt Journalism" - Paul Starobin - The New York Times
"Hidden cameras? That's the easiest call. Their growing use by TV news magazine shows... is part of a ratings-driven descent by the major networks into the swamp tabloid journalism."
The New York Times 1997-01-28
"ABC's Food Lion Story Didn't Sully Journalism" - Michael A. Cooper - New York Times
Purporting to argue about harm, Mr. Starobin really sermonizes about taste. But Food Lion's reckless food-handling jeopardized lives. The jury's rash judgment in favor of Food Lion provides yet another shield from exposure to corporations that jeopardize public safety behind closed doors. That is worse than tacky.
The New York Times 1997-01-31
News Bites - Michael Miner - Chicago Reader
[From James Hoge:] "The key question concerning the propriety of the project was whether it involved entrapment. In preparation for the Mirage project, the reporters involved were instructed by lawyers in how to avoid entrapping suspects. Under Pam [Zekman]'s superb direction, I don't believe the reporting ever crossed that ethical line."
Chicago Reader 2002-10-11
IVA-Sidebar: "Undercover Student" - Shann Nix - San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle 1992-11-19
IIC-Sidebar: "Undercover Student" - Shann Nix - San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle 1992-11-17
IV-"Undercover Student" - Shann Nix - San Francisco Chronicle
". . . Most of the kids tell me that they knew I didn't fit in. I ask what it was that gave me away. "'You wore your jacket collar turned up,' someone says. 'No one has done that since the '80s!' "'You wore the right clothes, but in the wrong way," another girl says. "Too formal. You weren't bummie enough.' . . . "'You throw your head back when you laugh," someone else says. 'You're too confident, too self-assured.' "There are things that you learn in life after high school, I decide as I listen, that mark you permanently. No makeup or jewelry, no Gap jeans or baggy T-shirts can hide the sculpting that experience gives you. . . . "
San Francisco Chronicle 1992-11-19
IIA-"Undercover Student" - Shann Nix - San Francisco Chronicle
". . . The kids discuss sex with a degree of frankness and sophistication that would do Dr. Ruth proud. "Out of a group of seven seniors, it is established that three are virgins. They high-five each other, and everyone else agrees that they respect virginity as a choice. . . . "
San Francisco Chronicle Tuesday, November 17, 1992
IIB-Sidebar: "Undercover Student" - Shann Nix - San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle 1992-11-17
"Youngsters of All Ages Free to Browse Among Hashish Pipes, Obscene Comic Books" - Mike Goodman - Los Angeles Times
"Two 13-year-olds parked their bikes and strolled into the dimly lit shop, barely glancing at the four-foot-high plastic marijuana plan at the entrance."They sniffed at the sweetish aroma of incense as do hundreds of other youths who frequent similar 'head shops' across the Valley that specialize in everything for the dope smoker. "Head shops used to be frequented mainly by hippies and drug 'freaks' but observers say they now attract a broader clientele. "And few so-called 'straight' parents or adults interviewed said they had the faintest idea what's inside the more than 20 head shops scattered among Valley communities. . . ."
Los Angeles Times 1972-04-09
"Times' Bernheimer Wins Pulitzer for Music Criticism" - John J. Goldman - Los Angeles Times
"The Herald-Examiner's series, based on reporter Merle Linda Wolin's experiences as an undercover worker in the garment factories, was the jury's unanimous first choice for the award."The board objected to the series partly because the reporter posed as an illegal alien to gain jobs in the sweatshops, according to members of the jury. Other sources said the board did not consider any of the jury's recommendations to be first-rate entries. "Anticipating that Wolin might be accused of deception, the jury submitted a confidential report defending its choice of her series. The jurors said they, too, believed that reporters generally should not misrepresent themselves but said that sweatshop 'conditions' could not have been fully explored in any other way . . . "
Los Angeles Times 1982-04-13
"Undercover Journalism's Last Call" - Michael Miner - Chicago Reader
". . . The strange thing about the Mirage series is that a charge of inauthenticity did it in. It was condemned as an antic, a sleight-of-hand unworthy of journalism's highest honors. "A historic project, it had a historic fall. I found the spot in News Values where Fuller talks about the Mirage--it's in a chapter called 'Deception and Other Confidence Games.' "Fuller begins by recalling how he broke in as a police reporter, working with old-timers that Hecht and MacArthur 'used as models for characters' in The Front Page. He wasn't as wily as they were, 'but I did become a passable liar in pursuit of the truth.' "He admits to the 'thrill' he'd personally felt going undercover. 'Deception carried a hint of danger that ordinary investigative techniques simply did not have. Perhaps I sensed something forbidden about it, the secrecy, the betrayal. Or perhaps it was the recognition that deception invites rage and retribution. The feeling was not entirely pleasant, but still when it was over, I wanted to feel it again.' "That's how we talk about sin. Fuller's notion of journalistic sin is more expansive than mine, and when it occurs he's less willing to forgive it. News Values is up to the important business of setting journalism on a new foundation more honorable than the old, but Fuller sweeps undercover journalism into a bin with a lot of old-time techniques we can agree were outrageous, like stealing photos and posing as a cop. . . . "
Chicago Reader 2002-10-02
"When Undercover Was King" - Michael Miner - Chicago Reader
". . . By 1988, when Gaines won his second Pulitzer, the task force and, for that matter, undercover reporting itself were history. For half a year he and reporter Ann Marie Lipinski and associate metro editor Dean Baquet pored over records and conducted interviews, and in the end the Pulitzer board honored "their detailed reporting on the self-interest and waste that plague Chicago's City Council." Gaines focused on zoning--the way it works and how the way it works lines pockets. "The day after the hospital series broke, the board of health held an emergency meeting. The two hospitals soon went out of business, and Gaines and Crawford testified before a U.S. Senate committee. When I asked what the Tribune's pore-by-pore examination of the City Council accomplished, Gaines said, 'That's a tough one. I'd have to say it just educated people to how the City Council worked. It put it all in one big story people could read. I don't think it reformed one thing.' "Neither did the Tribune's eight-month examination of the City Council ten years later--a study the paper in 1997 hailed as a 'fascinating window into the inner workings of government in Chicago.' Gaines worked on that one too. 'I was able to get into even more depth on how zoning works,' he says. 'I think you could do a City Council series every year--every six months.' "The difference between Gaines's two Pulitzers was the difference between bagging an elk with a gun and bagging the whole herd with a camera. . . . "
Chicago Reader 2001-08-09
"To Investigate and Advocate" - Michael Miner - Chicago Reader
"From 1970, the year I arrived here, through 1976, the Chicago press took ten Pulitzers. Half went to writers and photographers at the Sun-Times, which has won a single Pulitzer (for Jack Higgins's cartoons in 1989) since Rupert Murdoch took over the paper in 1984. The Trib has won four Pulitzers in this century, but only one since 2003. Papers that don't win Pulitzers say they're no way to keep score, but the disdain of Pulitzer judges for papers controlled by Murdoch (and his successors, notably Conrad Black) and Sam Zell is shared by a lot of the Tribune's and Sun-Times's former readers. So many people I know buy only the New York Times that I feel like a bit of a damned fool when I say I subscribe to all three. I know what they're thinking: Well, you have to, it's your job. "Back in the day, the essential Chicago newspaper project was the hard-hitting investigation, naming names and kicking butt. Journalism is never more fun than when the facts are lined up and the presses are about to roll. Unfortunately, in desperate times publishers have awakened to the reality that serious investigations are not only very expensive but of no interest to lots of readers—which means too often we get them quick and cheesy or not at all. . . . "
Chicago Reader 2010-07-15
"Paper's Subterfuge Appears Judicious" - Edward Wasserman - syndicated
"And at a time when the media believe that the public mistrusts their methods and motives, local-news chiefs long for civic causes that are both bold and unassailable—like rescuing all the cats from the trees, whatever the cost, dammit."
The Spokesman-ReviewMiami Herald 2005-04-16
"Lying in the Name of Truth: When Is It Justified for Journalists?" - Bob Steele - PoynterOnline
"I don’t know enough about the extent of Silverstein’s reporting on the lobbyists story before he pulled the deception tool out of his bag. He argues it would have been “impossible” to get “the same information and insight with more conventional journalistic methods.” That’s an argument he must defend to justify his decision to misrepresent his identity."
PoynterOnline 2007-07-05
Response: "Pulse of the Public: 'Underpaid ...' Series: 'Excellent Work'" - Chester Goolrick and Paul Lieberman - Atlanta Constitution
"My dear friends, I want to thank you for the excellent work on "The Underpaid And Under-Protected" series. This is a service of value which cannot be overestimated."
Atlanta Constitution 1979-12-07
"The River Thieves" - Julius Chambers - New York Tribune
"A TRIBUNE reporter, thoroughly disguised, visited the haunts of these men [river pirates], and, after a long series of introductions, extending over considerable time, succeeded in gaining the confidence of one of the most notorious and desperate thieves on the East River. After some encouragement on the part of a private detective, and at the request of several of his friends, the thief gave the following outline of a night's work, not long since. It is needless to say that it is reproduced from memory, without pretense of exactness as to the words employed, as the taking of notes would have been very [illegible word] business . . . "
The New York Tribune 1871-06-09
III-"Abuses of Lunatics" - Julius Chambers - New York Tribune
The New York Tribune 1872-09-02
IV-"More About Bloomingdale" - Julius Chambers - New York Tribune
The New York Tribune 1872-09-03
Comment: "Bloomingdale Once More" - Unsigned - New York Tribune
"The investigation of THE TRIBUNE has developed all that it set out to accomplish. It has been shown that physicians can be had at random to swear a man's vita away with less hesitation than they will attempt the lease difficult of surgical operations; and that briefer examination is needful to satisfy the average family doctor that a man's brain is disordered than that his leg is broken. . . . "
The New York Tribune Tuesday, September 3, 1872
Comment: "Lunacy Treatment" - Unsigned - New York Tribune
"The narrative of THE TRIBUNE reporter who was confined in Bloomingdale Insane Asylum is continued in o ther columns of this issue of THE TRIBUNE. All candid readers will admit that the story is told dispassionately. In fact, so impressed has the writer been with his instructions to set down nothing he cannot establish as oath, and to divest himself of any feeling of prejudice or animosity toward the physicians or keepers, that he appears to err on the other side and to have lost something of the natural feeling of sympathy for the helpless creatures his mission was devised to aid by giving voice to those whom nature and man combine to silence as though entombed. In spite of a tameness which this conscientious precaution has given the narrative, it is nevertheless not wanting in the elements which make it absorbing reading, and the combined narratives form a powerful argument in favor of that reformation in the legal and medical treatment of insanity which must grow out of the agitation thus begun in this State...."
The New York Tribune 1872-08-31
I-"The Lunacy Law Tested" - Julius Chambers - New York Tribune
"The report which follows details the experiences of a Tribune reporter in obtaining admission into Bloomingdale Insane Asylum. The test of the law of commitment and the management of the Asylum are so distinct that it was found advisable as well as necessary, in order to give time for the preparation of the articles, to make separate narratives of the adventure in getting into custody and the experiences and observations while incarcerated in the Asylum. . . . The commitment of this reporter to the Asylumb grew out of an invitation by Dr. David T. Brown, Superintendent of the management, who in conversation with the one of writers for The Tribune stated the willingness of the management to submit to a thorough investigation of the whole Asylum . . .
The New York Tribune 1872-08-29
II-"Among the Maniacs" - Julius Chambers - New York Tribune
The New York Tribune 1872-08-31
Curtain-Raiser: "A Genuine Investigation of Bloomingdale Asylum" - [Julius Chambers] - New York Tribune
"On August 14, Julius Chambers, a reporter of THE TRIBUNE, was consigned to Bloomingdale Lunatic Asylum by regular process of law, and was placed by the Assistant Physician in charge in the wards for excited patients, being thought a dangerous maniac. At the end of the week he appeared (by instruction of this office) to be so much improved that he was removed to the ward for quiet patients, and encouragement was held out by the same physician that in six or seven weeks he might be discharged. On Saturday last, after a write of habeus corpus for his release had been served, Dr. David T. Brown, Superintendent of the institution, talked with him for an hour or two, and, being familiar with the disease which he simulated, at once saw the reporter was sane. On Monday, at the earnest solicitation of the physician and the legal adviser of the Asylum, consent was given that he be released without further public legal proceedings. Yesterday, however, Mr John D. Townsend, in whose name the application for release was made, explained in the Supreme Court his connection with the case and the fact that the person committed was a reporter for this paper."The reporter's story of his incarceration in the Asylum will be told in detail in tomorrow's TRIBUNE, accompanied by his sworn affidavid of the truth of all he states. "In making this investigation of this institution, THE TRIBUNE was prompted by no motive of idle curiosity, no purpose to misrepresent, no object other than xxxxxx correct way, and in a manner which would satisfy and convince the public. Its examination was made on a fixed and carefully elaborated plan to test the legal issues involved, and the truth of the charges previously put forth by former employes of the Asylum. To have bribed two physicians to certify falsely his madness would have been to prove only tht there were rogues in the profession; hence it was decided to feign insanity and test the scientific knowledge of the committing physicians. . . . It was charged that strangers to patients sometimes committed them. It was therefore decided that absolute strangers should be employed. It was said that police justices committed men without examination. The Justice who sent our reporter to Bloomingdale never saw him at all, and does not know the names of the persons or physicians who made the application . . . The detailed story of those adventures to be told by the reporter will be a plain, unvarnished tale, without reservation of names or facts, and we are sorry to say that it will be adverse to the institution, and reflect painfully on the law of commitment and its administration in this city."
The New York Tribune 1872-08-28
"Undercover Grandma Catches Medicare Fraud on Tape" - Megan Chuchmach and Brian Ross - ABC News
"In the wake of an ABC News undercover investigation, federal authorities in Texas are investigating how an active 82-year-old grandmother was diagnosed as homebound, with a range of ailments that she did not have, including Type 2 diabetes, opening the door to potentially tens of thousands of dollars in Medicare payments for home health care, supplies and equipment she did not need."
ABC News 2012-05-11
IA-Sidebar: "Undercover Student" - Shann Nix - San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle 1992-11-16
IC-Sidebar: "Undercover Student" - Shann Nix - San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle 1992-11-16
IB-Sidebar-"Undercover Student" - Shann Nix - San Francisco Chronicle
"As The Chronicle continued to report on the growing crisis in the public schools and the crippling effect of the budget cuts on education, we realized that in September, thousands of nameless, faceless students would struggle to learn in crowded, ill-equipped classrooms with teachers who were in danger of losing their jobs. "We decided that readers needed to understand just how dramatically the budget crisis affects the kids. "But it would be difficult. Classroom visitors would be greeted by proud teachers putting on their best stiff-upper-lip performances, shy students and administrators complaining loudly. "Either way, I would never be sure I was seeing the unvarnished truth and readers would not get the accurate picture they needed to see. George Washington High School Principal Al Vidal agreed . . . "
San Francisco Chronicle 1992-11-16
IIIA-"Undercover Student" - Shann Nix - San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle 1992-11-19
III-"Undercover Student" - Shann Nix - San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle 1992-11-18
II-"Undercover Student" - Shann Nix - San Francisco Chronicle
"Someone threw a dead rat in a chow mein carton into Mr. Gregg's American democracy class today. "Mr. Gregg confesses that he wanted to scream, but didn't. "Later he uses the incident as an example of the importance of ''intention'' in the judicial system. . . . "
San Francisco Chronicle 1992-11-17
I-"Undercover Student" - Shann Nix - San Francisco Chronicle
". . . The principal, Al Vidal, is an imposing bulldog of a man with a kind face, creased by his long battle against discouraging odds. Teachers tell me later that Vidal is an exceptional administrator, loyal to his staff members and his school, determined to keep all of Washington's programs alive despite the fact that he has only $35.60 to spend on each student each year for books, supplies, everything except salaries. "A single textbook costs an average of $30. "The only person in the building besides Vidal who knows my secret is guidance counselor Linda Plack, a slender blonde with a sympathetic air and Susan Sarandon eyes. She arranges my schedule -- English Lit., American democracy, drama, auto shop, French 3 and art history. I would have liked to take P.E., but the tennis class is full and the weights class conflicts with English. No math -- I told my boss she isn't paying me enough to take trigonometry. "Erica, a petite, soft-spoken girl with shoulder-length dark hair, shows up to give me a tour. I try to make conversation as she points out the library ("It's usually closed") the cafeteria ('No one goes there') and the bathrooms ('Don't go in if you can help it'). . . . "
San Francisco Chronicle 1992-11-16
Note III-"The Jungle: A Story of Chicago" - Upton Sinclair - Appeal to Reason
"I have received an offer from a publishing house of the highest standing, which is willing to bring out the book on my own terms; but I am still clinging to the hope of keeping it in my own hands. As the plates will be of service, no matter what arrangement is made, I have gone ahead with this important part of the work, and it will be half done when this statement appears."
Appeal to Reason 1905-12-16
Note on Publication II and Final Part-"The Jungle: A Story of Chicago" - Upton Sinclair - Appeal to Reason
"When he came home that night he was in a very sombre mood; having begun to see at last how those might be right who had laughed at him for his faith in the packers, and in America, telling him that he was in the employ, not of honest merchants, but of knaves and public enemies."
Note on Publication I-"The Jungle: A Story of Chicago" - Upton Sinclair - Appeal to Reason
"If the book has to be published by a capitalist concern its price will be fixed at a dollar and a half, postage extra, and this price you will have to pay if you wish to own a copy of it. The profits of the book store and the jobber, the traveling salesman and the publisher, the author and the reviewer (in the form of advertising), the printer, the binder and the paper trust—all these you will have to furnish, and furnish to the end of time."
Appeal to Reason 1905-11-18
XXIX-"The Jungle: A Story of Chicago" - Upton Sinclair - Appeal to Reason
"Just about this time one of the Chicago newspapers, which made a great fuss over the "common people," opened a "free-soup" kitchen for the benefit of the unemployed. Some people said that they did this for the sake of the advertising it gave them, and some others said that the motive which influenced them was a fear lest all their readers should be starved off; but whatever the motive, the soup was thick and hot, and there was a bowl for every man, all night long."
Appeal to Reason 1905-11-04
XXVIII-"The Jungle: A Story of Chicago" - Upton Sinclair - Appeal to Reason
"The sanitary arrangements in the packing-houses had always been grossly inadequate; and now the corners of every room where meat was being prepared were reeking with the stench of human filth. The mayor was boasting that he put an end to gambling and prize-fighting in the city; while here a swarm of professional gamblers had leagued themselves with the police to fleece the strike-breakers; and any night, in the big open space in front of Smith's, one might see brawny negroes stripped to the waist and pounding each other for money, under the eyes of policemen, while a howling throng of three or four thousand surged about, men and women, young white girls from the country rubbing elbows with big buck negroes with daggers in their boots, while rows of woolly heads peered down from every window of the surrounding factories."
Appeal to Reason 1905-10-28
XXVII-"The Jungle: A Story of Chicago" - Upton Sinclair - Appeal to Reason
"The point of view of the men Jurgis heard gone over and over by the speakers at his union meetings. Some of these men had worked in Packingtown for thirty years; they had helped to build up the business, they said, and they had a right to some consideration, and to a living out of it. And since by this time it was perfectly clear that the packers did not mean to give it to them, it was time they set about taking it."
Appeal to Reason 1905-10-21
XXVI-"The Jungle: A Story of Chicago" - Upton Sinclair - Appeal to Reason
"And so Jurgis got a glimpse of the high-class criminal world of Chicago. A city nominally ruled by the people, but in reality administered by a business oligarchy, a huge army of graft was necessary for the purpose of effecting the transfer of power."
Appeal to Reason 1905-10-14
XXV-"The Jungle: A Story of Chicago" - Upton Sinclair - Appeal to Reason
"A second later a policeman dashed in, and the bartender yelled once more—"Look out for his knife!" Jurgis had fought himself half to his knees, when the policeman made a leap at him, and cracked him across the face with his club. Though the blow staggered him, the wild beast frenzy still blazed in him, and he got to his feet, lunging into the air. Then again the club descended, full upon his head, and he dropped like a log to the floor."
Appeal to Reason 1905-10-07
XXIV-"The Jungle: A Story of Chicago" - Upton Sinclair - Appeal to Reason
"They had started down the street, arm in arm, the young fellow pushing Jurgis along, half dazed. Jurgis was trying to think what to do—he knew he could not pass any crowded place with his new acquaintance without attracting attention and being stopped. It was only because of the falling snow that people who passed here did not notice anything wrong."
Appeal to Reason 1905-09-30
XXIII-"The Jungle: A Story of Chicago" - Upton Sinclair - Appeal to Reason
"It was in a newly-opened cut that Jurgis worked, and so he knew that he had an all-winter job. He was so rejoiced that he treated himself to a spree that night, and with the balance of his money he hired himself a place in a tenement-room, where he slept upon a big home-made straw mattress along with four other working-men."
Appeal to Reason 1905-09-23
XXII-"The Jungle: A Story of Chicago" - Upton Sinclair - Appeal to Reason
"When Jurgis had first came to the stockyards he had been as clean as any workingman could well be—on Saturday nights he had never failed to scrub out his kitchen sink and plug it up and take a bath. But later on, what with sickness and cold and hunger and discouragement, and the filthiness of his work, and the vermin in his home, Jurgis had given up washing in winter, and in summer only as much of him as would go into a basin. He had had a showerbath in jail, but nothing since—and now he would have a swim!"
Appeal to Reason 1905-09-16
XXI-"The Jungle: A Story of Chicago" - Upton Sinclair - Appeal to Reason
"It was quite a story. Little Juozapas, who was near crazy with hunger these days, had gone out on the street to beg for himself. Juozapas had only one leg, having been run over by a wagon when a little child, but he had got himself a broomstick, which he put under his arm for a crutch. He had fallen in with some other children and found the way to Tom Cassidy's dump, which lay three or four blocks away."
Appeal to Reason 1905-09-09
XX-"The Jungle: A Story of Chicago" - Upton Sinclair - Appeal to Reason
"Jurgis went without a word, and stepping over half a dozen sleeping boarders in the next room, ascended the ladder. It was dark up above; they could not afford any light; also it was nearly as cold as out doors. In a corner, as far away from the corpse as possible, sat Marija, holding little Antanas in her one good arm and trying to soothe him to sleep."
Appeal to Reason 1905-09-02
XIX-"The Jungle: A Story of Chicago" - Upton Sinclair - Appeal to Reason
"Madame Haupt was pointing her cooking-fork at Jurgis persuasively; but her words were more than he could bear. He flung up his hands with a gesture of despair and turned and started away. "It's no use," he exclaimed—but suddenly he heard the woman's voice behind him again."
Appeal to Reason 1905-08-26
XVIII. Concluded-"The Jungle: A Story of Chicago" - Upton Sinclair - Appeal to Reason
"Jurgis's brain was so in a whirl that he could not grasp the situation. It was as if his family had been wiped out of existence; as if they were proving to be dream people, who never had existed at all. He was quite lost—but then suddenly he thought of Grandmother Majauszkis, who lived on the next block. She would know! He turned and started at a run."
Appeal to Reason 1905-08-19
XVIII-"The Jungle: A Story of Chicago" - Upton Sinclair - Appeal to Reason
"Jurgis had had enough to eat in the jail, and the work had been the least trying of any that he had done since he came to Chicago; but even so, he had not grown strong—the fear and grief that had preyed upon his mind had worn him thin. Now he shivered and shrunk from the rain, hiding his hands in his pockets and hunching his shoulders together."
Appeal to Reason 1905-08-12
XVII-"The Jungle: A Story of Chicago" - Upton Sinclair - Appeal to Reason
"Naturally, the aspect of prison life was changed for Jurgis by the arrival of a cell-mate. He could not turn his face to the wall and sulk, he had to speak when he was spoken to; nor could he help being interested in the conversation of Duane—the first educated man with whom he had ever talked."
Appeal to Reason 1905-08-05
XVI. Concluded-"The Jungle: A Story of Chicago" - Upton Sinclair - Appeal to Reason
"Here they searched Jurgis, leaving him only his money, which consisted of fifteen cents. Then they led him to a room and told him to strip for a bath; after which he had to walk down a long gallery, past the grated cell-doors of the inmates of the jail. This was a great event to the latter—the daily review of the new arrivals—all stark naked—and many and diverting were the comments."
Appeal to Reason 1905-07-29
XVI-"The Jungle: A Story of Chicago" - Upton Sinclair - Appeal to Reason
"At first he was like a wild beast that has glutted itself; he was in a dull stupor of satisfaction. He had done up the scoundrel pretty well—not as well as he would have if they had given him a minute more, but still pretty well; the ends of his fingers were still tingling from their contact with the fellow's throat."
Appeal to Reason 1905-07-22
XV. Concluded-"The Jungle: A Story of Chicago" - Upton Sinclair - Appeal to Reason
"There came one of those hysterical crises that had so often dismayed him. Ona sobbed and wept, her fear and anguish building themselves up into long climaxes. Furious gusts of emotion would come sweeping over her, shaking her as the tempest shakes the trees upon the hills; all her frame would quiver and throb with them—it was as if some dreadful thing rose up within her and took possession of her, torturing her, tearing her."
Appeal to Reason 1905-07-15
XV-"The Jungle: A Story of Chicago" - Upton Sinclair - Appeal to Reason
"A day or two before Thanksgiving day there came a snow-storm. It began in the afternoon, and by evening two inches had fallen. Jurgis tried to wait for his wife, but went into a saloon to get warm, and took two drinks, and came out and ran home to escape from the demon; there he lay down to wait for her, and instantly fell asleep."
Appeal to Reason 1905-07-08
XIV-"The Jungle: A Story of Chicago" - Upton Sinclair - Appeal to Reason
"They were beaten; they had lost the game; they were swept aside. It was not less tragic because it was so sordid, because that it had to do with wages and grocery bills and rents. They had dreamed of freedom; of a chance to look about them and learn something; to be decent and clean, to see their child grow up to be strong. And now it was all gone—it would never be."
Appeal to Reason 1905-07-01
XIII. Concluded-"The Jungle: A Story of Chicago" - Upton Sinclair - Appeal to Reason
"Ona had now been working in the ham-wrapping room for two years, and every day during that time she had been half expecting what now happened, when the forelady came and told her that her services were no longer needed. Ona stood still, quite white about the lips; she caught at her breath two or three times, and then managed to gasp out an inquiry as to what she had done."
Appeal to Reason 1905-06-24
XIII-"The Jungle: A Story of Chicago" - Upton Sinclair - Appeal to Reason
"And now he died. Perhaps it was the smoked sausage he had eaten that morning which may have been made out of some of the tuberculous pork that is taken out at the bottom of the tank. At any rate, an hour after eating it the child had begun to cry with pain and in another hour he was rolling about on the floor in convulsions."
Appeal to Reason 1905-06-17
XII. Concluded-"The Jungle: A Story of Chicago" - Upton Sinclair - Appeal to Reason
"Little Kotrina was like most children of the poor, prematurely made old; she had to take care of her little brother and sister, both of them criplles, and also of the baby, and of Jurgis. She had to cook all the meals, and wash the dishes and clean house, and then have supper in the evening ready when the workers came home in the evening. She was only thirteen, and small for her age, but she did all this without a murmur, and did it beautifully."
Appeal to Reason 1905-06-10
XII-"The Jungle: A Story of Chicago" - Upton Sinclair - Appeal to Reason
"But perhaps the worst consequences of this long siege was that they lost another member of their family; Brother Jonas disappeared. One Saturday night he did not come home, and thereafter all their efforts to get trace of him were futile. It was said by the boss at Anderson's that he had gotten his week's money and left there."
Appeal to Reason 1905-06-03