The Ethics of Investigative Journalism

[Le Cric De Coeurs]

In 1992, a cataclysmic chain of events devastated the American grocery chain Food Lion. The demise of this corporation was not due to the economy, the consumers or the government. Instead, it was the practices of journalism activists that uncovered the scandal that crippled Food Lion.

For years the federal government had heard reports of alleged health and packing abuses being committed by Food Lion. Eventually, these reports attracted the attention of ABC News.

“The Government Accountability Office had been collecting affidavits from employees to form a case,” said Lynne Dale, a former ABC producer, who was a driving force behind the Food Lion investigation. “The year before, ABC had received poor reports of how Food Lion treated employees and food processing.”

Despite the circulating rumors, there was not enough evidence to present a case against Food Lion. It was then that Dale reached a moral crossroads in media ethics.

“What if we could prove that the allegations were true?” Dale said. “Isn’t that the point of investigative journalism?”

Dale applied for a meat packing position at a Food Lion grocery, and for the next two weeks worked in meat processing. Using hidden cameras and microphones, Dale pushed the frontiers in investigative journalism, collecting footage from behind Food Lion’s doors.

“It wasn’t just about what we covered, but the way we covered it,” Dale said.

The findings were appalling. Dale discovered that Food Lion recycled meats long past expiration date. Chicken, fish and other meats were often repackaged and put back on sale for awaiting customers. Meat was sometimes washed with bleach to disguise the odor of rotting meat. The poor health practices of Food Lion enabled the company to cut its costs at the expense of the consumer.

“I called my mom and told her I was done reporting,” Dale said. “I told her some of the things I had seen, and I remember how repulsed and disgusted she was. It was the same reaction the rest of America would have.”

When the broadcast aired on ABC’s Primetime, it was the highest rated broadcast to date. Over 140 sources had contributed information regarding the health abuses. Food Lion retaliated with a lawsuit, demanding 2.3 billion dollars in damages.

“This was entirely new legal ground,” Dale said. “No one had ever filed suit against a news corporation without a libel charge.”

Food Lion sued for fraud, trespassing and breach of loyalty, yet did not sue for libel.
“Food Lion was suing us for what we said, not what we did. In other words they were trying to bypass the first amendment,” Dale said. “If they succeeded, the result would be devastating to media freedom.”

In the aftermath of the lawsuit, ABC was fined 5.5 million in punitive damages. Food Lion spent nearly eight million dollars in pursuing a case, and sales plummeted after the damaging broadcast. Due to the severe repercussions of the incident, many question the ethics of undercover journalism.

“We could have done this investigation another way, but the point was to see it for ourselves,” Dale said.

To some, the use of undercover investigating is an essential tool in uncovering the truth.

“I feel that undercover investigating is justified,” said Jenna Dykes, 18, an Education major at the University of Nevada, Reno. “What Food Lion was doing was wrong, and it was journalism that brought that to light.”

Yet to others, those same practices violate basic legal principles.

“It’s a clean cut case of privacy and trespass,” said Sam Barns, 18, a Criminal Justice major at the University of Nevada, Reno. “Although Food Lion was in the wrong, the means of collecting evidence was unlawful. Imagine police collecting evidence without a warrant. The same principle applies.”

Dale admits that the lines dividing right and wrong are blurry. In the case of investigative journalism, those lines are even more vague.

“That’s the question,” Dale said. “Where are hidden cameras justified? It’s an issue that’s not black and white.”

[Abdulazeez Yusuf]

It is clear that the Food Lion are seriously digging human graves through the recycling of the unsold/expired stuff. But, it is true that respect is not given to ethical issues that are spelt out in research methodology. Researcher, especially social research is often expected to seek for the consent of his/her subjects for the use of any electronic or mechanical objects while covering the events. In fact, the first thing to be done on site, is to brief the target subject about the objectives of the inquiry, one intends to conduct. I however sensed that no organisation will ever allow such an enquiry to be conducted against its goals, especially goal of profit maximisation. Yet, truth needs to be unfolded. Judging from this case, I must confess that Investigative Journalism and indeed other related disciplines are at cross roads on ethical concerns.