CHOICE Online Reviews “Undercover Reporting: Deception for Journalism’s Sake: A Database”

CHOICE Reviews Online,

May 2013

Undercover Reporting: Deception for Journalism’s Sake: A Database

Copyright Gale Cengage

By E. Hage, SUNY Cobbleskill

[e] 50-4845 [Internet Resource]

Undercover Reporting: Deception for Journalism’s Sake: A Database URL: http://dlib.nyu.edu/undercover/ [Visited Feb’13] This research database supports a compelling argument and picks up the threads of a long-standing ethical debate. The project, a collaboration with NYU Libraries that emerged from journalism professor Brooke Kroeger’s book Undercover Reporting: The Truth about Deception (CH, Apr’13, 50-4260), presents the case that undercover, subterfuge-based reporting is central to a healthy news media landscape. This unique, rich resource amasses a remarkable amount of coverage, from articles in major and not-so-major news publications to books to film and television. The database is organized into clusters by author, date, publication, or theme–the last of these including, for example, “Undercover in U.S. Political Campaigns,” “Working with Migrants; Shadowing the Undocumented,” “Vote Fraud Investigation,” “Asylums Undercover,” and “Deep Encounters with Religious Groups.” There is even a cluster called “Antebellum Undercover,” which provides full-text articles of undercover reportage (1854-75) from the New York Tribune based on the work of journalists who headed South prior to the Civil War. (Here, for example, one finds a piece written by an undercover northern journalist at John Brown’s hanging in Virginia.) And this speaks to the historical breadth and informational scope of the database. In fact, under “Quacks, Thieves, Scam Artists, and Hucksters” one finds everything from full-text 19th-century pieces to a link to the video of a recent 60 Minutes piece on stem-cell hucksters. The collection is remarkably comprehensive, putting controversial and stunt-driven pieces next to award-winning achievements in investigative journalism. This invaluable research tool provides a wealth of material and also makes a profound argument for undercover reporting as an inextricable part of US national history and as an essential mode in the public-service mission of news. Summing Up: Highly recommended. *** All levels.–E. Hage, SUNY Cobleskill Hage, E. Source Citation   (MLA 7^th Edition) Hage, E. “Undercover Reporting: Deception for Journalism’s Sake: A Database.” CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries May 2013: 1621. Academic OneFile. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.

 

 

 

 

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