Undercover, under fire

This article was written by Kevin Silverstein, and it is about journalists going undercover in order to get their "story". The journalist the story is talking about is a man who posed as a representative for a London based energy company with interests in Turkmenistan.

He used the fact that the lobbyists in Washington knew that Turkmenistan is a run by a neo-Stalinist regime, and they did not pay attention to this fact, because the money they were going to be receiving was going to be over $1.5 million year. "they offered to send congressional delegations to Turkmenistan and write and plant opinion pieces in newspapers under the names of academics and think-tank experts they would recruit. They even offered to set up supposedly "independent" media events in Washington that would promote Turkmenistan (the agenda and speakers would actually be determined by the lobbyists). "

Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post's disagrees with the tactics that Kevin Silverstein took in order to get his story. "No matter how good the story," he wrote, "lying to get it raises as many questions about journalists as their subjects," said Kurtz.

This can be done quietly because there are little to no restriction on lobbyists. Although the author went "undercover" in order to gain this information; he would not have gotten the story without it. Lobbyists are not going to come out with information that they are participating in scandalous behavior.

There are times in life when we all need to make ethical decisions. Silverstein was able to exposed the unethical behavior of Washington lobbyists. Going undercover has been a common practice that journalist have taken throughout time. For example, ". . . there's a long tradition of sting operations in American journalism, dating back at least to the 1880s, when Nellie Bly pretended to be insane in order to reveal the atrocious treatment of inmates at the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island in New York City. "

Silverstein is forced to defend his actions, when others are praised for them. "In my case, I was able to gain an inside glimpse into a secretive culture of professional spinners only by lying myself. I disclosed my deceptions clearly in the piece I wrote (whereas the lobbyists I met boasted of how they were able to fly under the radar screen in seeking to shape U.S. foreign policy)." He was not harming anyone in the process of his undercover work. He was bringing to light the irresponsible actions of others; therefore he was completely within the realm of being ethical.