TV & VIDEO - Oct. 13, 1987

A survey of more than 127 network television affiliates found that more than half of their TV news departments have turned to such “covert techniques” as hidden cameras and microphones in the last two years. The study, conducted by Charles Burke of the University of Florida, said that about a quarter of the TV reporters it polled went “undercover” by pretending not to be journalists. California law prohibits tape-recording interviews without permission, but covert journalism is legal in most states. Journalists are divided on the matter, however. Don Fry, associate director of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, told TV Guide, “Don’t do it. We are in the truth business . . . we don’t lie or spy.” Geraldo Rivera, however, told TV Guide he disagreed: “Truth doesn’t come to those who sit and wait.”