Undercover journalism exposes injustices, negligence, corruption and wrongdoing and yet going undercover to expose wrongdoing remains controversial. But, undercover journalists contend that they are fulfilling a fundamental duty of finding truth through their journalism. They argue that public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy and the duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. So, there are some supporters of this kind of journalism, which sometimes infringe the privacy of individuals. However, some journalists also urge avoiding surreptitious methods of gathering information except when traditional open methods will not yield information vital to the public. In this context, answer the following questions: 20 (a) What are the ethical issues involved in the practice of undercover journalism? (b) Do you support the practice of undercover investigation by journalists? Give reasons in support of your answer.

(a) Ethical issues / dilemmas involved in practice of undercover journalism

(i) Media ethics vs infringement of it Media as a tool is subject to transparency and openness. Undercover journalism may create a situation where the media ethics are violated.

(ii) Privacy of an individual vs Media responsibilities String operations many a times infringe the privacy of an individual as recording is done by secretive means. But this is countered through larger societal benefit.

(iii) Vested interest vs media principles In the time of corporatisation of media these operations are used against rival companies to bring down their business. This goes against media principles.

(iv) Deontology vs Utilitarianism According to Kant any action cannot be justified by mere ends. Means have to be equally correct.

(v) State's responsibility vs media role. In cases of corruption, inequality the state has a responsibility to ensure a just society. Media's encroachment in the domain of state can many a times create conflict between the two.

(b) Undercover investigation of journalism is a tool to unearth what cannot come out through normal process.

There is a need to have this process as a last resort for journalism.

(i) State's failure In the times of media inclination towards state, the collusion between government and media has strengthened. Such things result in hiding of government failure and media is binded due to the revenues coming from government.

In such cases investigative or undercover journalism becomes the need of hour.

e.g Adarsh housing scam, Radia tapes, Coal scam were all exposed through this means.

(ii) Criminalisation of society and threat to life Media people such as Gauri Lankesh are murdered if they openly speak about wrong things. Under cover journalism helps in safeguarding their life as well as fulfilling media's responsibility.

(iii) Underground activities like child trafficking, bribery, drugs, narcotics could only be exposed when they are reached within the domain of media. Under cover journalism helps in such cases.

But there are some issues also → Corporatisation resulting in rivalries and vested sting operations. → Use of media as a tool by political parties. → Harassment of innocent individuals → Tampering of audio and video in times of social media.

Thus there need to be guidelines regarding it. → Audio/video should be checked properly for cases of tampering. → In cases of false stings, charges can be constituted against the journalist.