In 2005, reporters at the Idaho Falls Post Register uncovered a terrible secret: a known pedophile was working as a camp leader within the local Boy Scouts. With "In a Small Town," EXPOSÉ producer Joe Rubin retraced the steps of reporter Peter Zuckerman, who was tipped off by an anonymous source and later faced brutal—and very personal—attacks from the Boys Scouts of America and the Mormon Church. The piece, which already won a CINE Golden Eagle award, is now up for a News and Documentary Emmy Award.
>> Watch "In a Small Town" on the PBS EXPOSÉ website.
The EXPOSÉ: America's Investigative Reports series is produced by Thirteen/WNET New York in association with CIR.
When Tom Casciato, executive producer of the PBS series EXPOSÉ, asked investigative reporters nationwide why they do what they do, he came back and declared: "You're all optimists!"
Investigative reporters? Optimists? "This surprised me," writes CIR Editorial Director Mark Schapiro in Nieman Reports:
His observation certainly offered a contrast with the public's typical view of investigative journalists, who tend to rank somewhere between lawyers (another profession given an arguably bad rap) and repo men (who might deserve it)....
Upon reflection, however, his words started to seem like an accurate observation about the constellation of sometimes gruff, always driven journalists who pursue this line of work. They actually believe that bringing real information to the attention of the public might prompt change—in government policy, in the fate of politicians and government officials, in the behavior of corporations, in individuals or in entities with a link to power.
This, Schapiro points out, was one of the motives behind CIR's collaboration with PBS station WNET to produce EXPOSÉ: America's Investigative Reports. The show, now in its third season and airing monthly as part of Bill Moyers Journal, allows viewers to see what goes on behind-the-scenes with investigative reporters. The hope is that transparency will increase credibility and demonstrate the importance of investigative reporting at a time when many news organizations are downsizing—and the time-consuming (and therefore expensive) investigative reporting process is often the first to go.
The Web, Schapiro writes, is one of the best tools we have for creating transparency in reporting. CIR's own Reporter's Notebook, a series of essays by journalists about the backstory of their reporting, and the many source documents we provide online "provide readers not only with documentation that buttresses the reporting, but also with explanations of how our reporters used it."
>> Read "Transparency Increases Credibility" by Mark Schapiro in Nieman Reports.
>> Check out the EXPOSÉ: America's Investigative Reports website.
On the latest EXPOSÉ: America's Investigative Reports, the series looks at a year-long Washington Post investigation examining federal agriculture subsidies. The resulting series, which identified $15 billion in wasteful spending over a five-year period, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, and Investigative Reporters & Editors (IRE) award.
>> Watch "Cash Cows & Cowboy Starter Kits" online. The episode premiered on Bill Moyers Journal on April 11.
>> Read the original Washington Post series that the episode is based on.
Around 6:30 a.m. an explosion ripped through the Sago Mine in West Virginia. Thirteen miners were trapped underground. News crews from around the country descended on West Virginia's coal country. Lawmakers in Washington demanded stricter safety regulations and enforcement. The nation held its breath.
It took nearly twelve hours before rescue crews could even enter the mine. By the time rescuers dug the men out, all but one were dead.
While most reporters covered the Sago Mine story as a tragic accident, Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette decided to dig deeper. A fifteen-year veteran of the coal industry beat, Ward began examining mine records and visiting coalfields across West Virginia, Alabama, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. He spoke to coal miners, mine operators, government inspectors, and lawmakers. What he found was chilling: Mine operators and owners were pushing for the cheapest, fastest production of coal—a high-priced commodity—and sacrificing the lives and safety of miners in the process. Safety regulations were being ignored. Miners were receiving inadequate training. Rescue crews were short-staffed or nonexistent.
Ward's series brought the systemic flaws of coal mining—what one mine safety lawyer called "an outlaw industry"—into the national spotlight.
>> Watch "Sustained Outrage" online now. The episode is also airing on PBS. Check local listings.
>> Read Ken Ward's original series in The Charleston Gazette.
>> Read reporter Ken Ward’s tips for anyone interesting in investigating mine or worker safety issues.
>> The Mine Safety and Health Administration tracks mining deaths from 1995 to the present on its website. Poynter.org also highlights other mine safety resources.
Two of the TV news teams featured in EXPOSÉ's "Security Theater" used hidden cameras to get the inside scoop on airport security.
The ethical debate over the use of hidden cameras in journalism is a heated one. ABC's Primetime Live has used hidden cameras to uncover spoiled meat in supermarkets and abuse in nursing homes. And let's not forget Dateline NBC's wildly popular and controversial "To Catch a Predator" series, in which hidden cameras and sting operations are used to bust pedophiles on the Internet.
The hidden camera is an invaluable tool for reporters seeking to acquire proof of wrongdoing, abuse, and fraud. But it can also be a dangerous tool if used for the wrong reasons. And the many lawsuits filed against news organizations charging invasion of privacy, trespassing, and fraud because of the improper use of hidden cameras show just how dangerous a tool it can be. (In the most famous case, a jury ruled in favor of Food Lion, purveyor of the above cited spoiled meat, against ABC’s Primetime Live for the show’s fraudulent use of undercover reporters and hidden cameras—to the tune of $5.5 million in punitive damages.)
Bob Steele, a journalist and contributor to an ethics columnist for Poynter.org came up with this helpful set of guidelines over a decade ago for reporters who are considering using a hidden camera or any kind of deception or misrepresentation in newsgathering. (In this month's American Journalism Review, Steele’s guidelines were invoked in an attempt to judge the ethics of Harper’s reporter Ken Silverstein’s recent undercover stint in which he found out what kinds of unsavory things Washington lobbyists are willing to do for dictators, for the right price.) Steele further suggests reporters ask themselves questions such as: Have I exhausted all other investigative options? Does the public service of this investigation outweigh the deception involved in using a hidden camera? Is there an escape plan in case the undercover reporter is exposed?
Local television news may have a soft reputation when it comes to hard-hitting investigative journalism. However, some television newsrooms are chasing leads and cultivating inside sources as they undertake investigations that often have national importance. On Exposé's "Security Theater" the investigative teams at KNXV in Phoenix, KUSA in Denver, and KHOU in Houston go undercover, go on stakeouts, and go the extra mile to unearth government documents and plumb knowledgeable sources revealing shocking lapses in the nation's airport security.
>> Watch "Security Theater" online now.
>>Watch some of the original television reports that "Security Theater" is based on:
This week on EXPOSÉ: Going undercover, using hidden cameras, and obtaining government documents, local television news reporters reveal lax security, sleeping guards and failed security tests at some of the nation's busiest airports.
>> Watch a preview of "Security Theater" online.
The EXPOSÉ: America's Investigative Reports series is produced by Thirteen/WNET New York in association with CIR.
On November 28, 2005, California Representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham resigned from office after pleading guilty to taking more than $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors seeking government contracts.
The story of Cunningham's downfall-from legendary Vietnam War ace pilot to federal inmate-was publicly credited by the U.S. District Attorney's Office to the Pulitzer Prize-winning team of reporters from Copley News Service and The San Diego Union-Tribune. Starting with the story of Cunningham's suspicious house sale to defense contractor Mitchell Wade, and using court records, Congressional travel databases, confidential sources, and even scans of a high school yearbook, the reporting team uncovered the Congressman's track record of illicit backroom deals. EXPOSÉ follows the reporters' trail to reveal how the contract game is played in Washington and how willing lawmakers are to play it.
>> Watch "Quid Pro Quo" online now. The episode also airs on PBS tonight. Check local listings.
>> What exactly is "earmarking"? The reporters who broke the Duke Cunningham story explain how Congress has become a "pay-to-play" system in a web-exclusive video interview.
>> A web-exclusive audio interview with reporter Jerry Kammer of Copley News Service: "I think I learned a long time ago that one of the best things that journalism can do is inform the people about how power is used, especially when it’s abused."
When Jeffrey Henthorn, 25, returned from his first tour of duty in Iraq, his family noticed that something was not right. He woke up with nightmares and laughed callously at photos he took of Iraqis who had been shot and dismembered. When he was called up for his second tour of duty, he sobbed to his mother that he didn't want to go back. Two months later Henthorn’s family received the grim news that he had shot and killed himself with an M-16 rifle at an Army camp in Balad, Iraq.
In "Question 7," EXPOSÉ follows the story of soldier suicides, originally reported by the HARTFORD COURANT.
>> WEB VIDEO INTERVIEW: Henthorn's parents talk about the signs they wish they had paid attention to, and the need for an institutional safety net for troubled soldiers.
On the military's pre-deployment health assessment form, there is only one question regarding mental health that a recruit is asked before deploying. Question 7 asks, "During the past year, have you sought counseling or care for your mental health?" Matt Kauffman and Lisa Chedekel of the HARTFORD COURANT spent a year investigating mental health screening, depression, and suicide in the military. Are American soldiers mentally fit to fight? What happens if the answer is no?
>> EXPOSÉ retraces the reporters' steps in their latest episode: "Question 7." Watch the entire episode online.
>> EXPOSÉ's "Question 7" airs tonight on PBS. Check local listings.
>> Read Chedekel and Kauffman's series, which first appeared in the May 14-17, 2006, editions of the HARTFORD COURANT.
>> WEB EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW:
Reporters Lisa Chedekel and Matt Kauffman talk about their very different reporting styles and conducting tough interviews, "some of the toughest either of us has ever done."
With the families of troops who had committed suicide in Iraq, most of them had never talked about the circumstances of the death of their son or daughter or husband.... Some had never even told relatives or close friends. There we were, strangers calling them from a newspaper in New England, asking them about one of the most taboo topics imaginable—suicide. You'd think most of them would hang up. And yet few did.