ABSTRACT
Numerous journalists * make unethical decisions during their careers, sometimes further diminishing public trust and confidence in the profession. Some reporters use deception to expose deception, citing occasions when it may be necessary, even ethical, to break the law to expose a larger wrongdoing. A reporter working undercover may buy false documents, for example, to show how criminals create false identities. Others might misrepresent themselves as a patient’s relative to gather evidence of nursing home fraud. Photojournalists, equally committed to serving the public good, may leap from concealed areas with cameras rolling to ambush unsuspecting adversaries. Later they may march with those same cameras, unannounced, into offices, businesses, and other private property.
