Lorana Sullivan-one of my favourite Investigative Journalists

Lorana Sullivan whom I consider as one of the finest Investigative Financial Journalist of all time.Another reason why I consider her as one of my favourite Investigative Journalist is that Lorana worked as a freelance writer and researcher for The Observer(London)and other publication in Britain and the US.She started her carrier for her hometown paper the Elmira Star Gazette in 1961.She studied at Cornell University and Cornell Law School.She also attended School of Journalism of Columbia University.After getting a Pulitzer travelling fellowship,she worked as a reporter for The Sunday Times in London.
After returning to US, as a reporter for various newspapers like Providence Journal Bulletin in Rhode Island,Wall Street Journal,The Sunday Times,The London Observer,she unearthed major financial irregularities such as the financial dealings of Mohamed Al-Fayed after he acquired Harrods.Like Ida Tarbell,the pioneer American Investigative Journalist,Lorana exposed major high profile financial frauds.
After her premature death at the age of 61 years(1999),the Lorana Sullivan Foundation was established to improve the standards of Investigative Journalism.The Foundation who sponsors the London Investigative Journalism Summer School,provides two scholarships a year for students.

Ida Tarbell,the pioneer Investigative reporter

I still remember that when I first read the book 'The History of the Standard Oil Company',I was in the ninth standard.I was fascinated by the detailed research by the author .Later, I learned that Ida was America's most respected journalists of earlier part of the twentieth centuries.I visualized that I would some day be an Investigative Reporter.I found that the author Ida Tarbel (857-1944)was the most respected American journalist in the earlier part of the twentieth century.The lady became my inspiration.In this book she unearthed the illegal way by which the business tycoon John Rockefeller monopolize the then oil industry.Ida Tarbell spent much of her time searching documents,archives. Documents played a major role for muckrakers.Ida proved that 'document oritented' Investigative Journalism is much more authentic.American President Theodore Roosevelt introduced the term muckrakers for the reporters who dug up the shit.She tried tried to exploit her professional credentials for the sake of her personal gain.She even bluntly refused many coveted posts that was offered to her by the us government.I feel sad when I hear that Journalists of my genre use their connections for their monetary gain.

http://www.history.rochester.edu/fuels/tarbell/MAIN.HTM

Salute to Nellie Bly,the dare devil Investigative Reporter

Today,I dedicated my blog to Nellie Bly,one of the finest Investigative Reporter of all time .Bly, the young Investigative Reporter of Dispatch and later Joseph Pulitzer's The New york World specialized in undercover reporting.Bly's journalism style was marked by her first hand tales of the lives of ordinary people whether in mental asylum or in factory which employed child labour.This piece is for those who are not yet familiar about this outstanding reporter whom I idolized from my child hood.

Elizabeth Jane Cochran born on May 5, 1864,home of Mary Jane and Judge Michael Cochran in Cochran's Mills, Pennsylvania, but shortly after her sixth birthday her father died.They faced severe financial crisis.When Elizabeth,was 18 years old she wrote an anonymous letter to the editor of the Pittsburgh Dispatch in response to a editorial . George Madden, managing editor of the Dispatch was so impressed by the letter that he placed an ad in the Sunday edition of the paper asking that she introduce herself. The following day, Elizabeth met Madden and soon joined as a reporter of the Pittsburgh Dispatch.Elizabeth first article was not impressive,but Madden recognised the her potentiality. When Madden decided to make her a permanent member of his staff, he suggested a pen name for her, as it was quite improper for a woman to write for a newspaper at that time. After several brain storming session with his staff,he found a suitable pen name for her Nellie Bly after a song "Nelly Bly" written 35 years earlier by Stephen Collins Foster, one of Pittsburgh's native. From day one,Nellie focused her attention on women's rights issues. She was the inventor of investigative reporting and an expert at under-cover work. She posed as a poor sweatshop worker to expose the inhuman conditions under which women worked. When shop owners threatened to pull their advertising from the the paper, Nellie was put on an unimportant beat(fashion). She responded to her new assignment by taking a six-month working vacation in Mexico. She continued to write articles for the paper which focused on poverty and political corruption in Mexico. Eventually,the respective government expelled from the country.

Returning to the United States, she concentrated on New York City where she wanted to work for one of the city's top newspapers.
Four months after arriving in New York, Nellie found herself still jobless and penniless. Nellie did'nt want to go back to Pittsburgh, she went to meet Colonel John Cockerill, managing editor of the New York World and presented her ideas.
In September 1887, Nellie admitted to a mental Asylum on Blackwell's Island as an undercover reporter. Nellie continued her undercover reporting for the New York World until 1888,When Newyork World's top brass decided to send a man around the world in less than 80 days. Nellie, took it as a challenge to do it in less time for any another newspaper if they did not agree to send her instead.
On November 14, 1889, Nellie Blys started her world-wide journey on the Hamburg-American Company liner Augusta Victoria from the Hoboken Pier. Bly's travel experiences were published daily in the paper and appreciated by readers.After,Seventy-two days, Nellie arrived home. But dismayed and by the lack of appreciation from her employers, Nelliesubmitted her resignation. In 1893, Nellie made her comeback at the New york World. Her reporting focus mostly on women oritiented issues and fighting corruption in high places.
On April 5, 1895, Nellie married a man named Robert Livingston Seaman 40 years her senior and retired from journalism. Seaman was a millionaire industrialist. After Seaman's death, Nellie focused all her energy to run her late husbands company, The Iron Clad Manufacturing Company.
In 1914, Nellie went to England to escape her financial problems because of the bankruptcy of her company for a few weeks. While in war-torn Europe(World war1), she reported the war from behind the scenes.She returned home after 1919, and again restarted her journalism career, for the New York Evening Journal.
On January 27, 1922 , Nellie Bly died at the age of 57 of pneumonia.For her excellent undercover work,visit: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bly/madhouse/madhouse.html

Pix:(above) U.S postal stamp on Nellie Bly.

We should have a good khabari

I had no other clue except that the guy has a automotive shop just beside a police station in Pune.But,there are so many police stations divided by different zones.It was a herculean task for me.How I find him,I wonderedShamir(name changed ), shifted his base from a hilly town in North Eastern region of India to Pune after duping scores of people.He duped people and collected money by impersonating a 'commander'of a millitant outfit of North- East.First I download the details of Pune police stations from their website.After that I collected the names and addresses of automotive shops in and around Pune.I also collected the addresses and phone numbers of Khandelwals living in Pune.Then I randomly dialled automotive shops in and around Pune.My boss told me to find out that man,what he does and his connections.I got in touch with my contact in Pune.Suddenly an idea floated up in my mind -there must be an association of that particulatr community in Pune which he belongs.Meanwhile,I found that there is an automotive shop beside Pune Police headquarter.After a frantic search i found the secretary of a Samaj(Society) and collected his phone number and told him that I need some information about that man who belongs to his samaj.My Pune contact assured me over phone that though he is not able to locate that man yet,he is hopeful that he will find him soon.I called up a guy,who had some underground connections and explained my purpose.Later in the day,my contact informed me,he locate a person who has a automotive shop near a police station but he was not yet sure about the identity of the person.He told me that he needed few more days to identify the person.Two days back,the secretary of the Samaj informed me over phone that his men locate Samir has a thriving business in Pune.I thank God then spend the rest of the night by instructing my contact on yahoo messenger.Still,there was hope,I thought.I was excited.Few days later,my contact informed me that he took the photographs of the man and emailed me the photographs.I instantly recognise the man and instructed my contact to find out his address.Few days later,he informed me that the man lives with his wife and two children in Bhandarkar Road,North Pune and after that it was easier for me to got every details of the man.Then,I realize that we should have a good khabari(Informer).

Don't tell my husband you called me

I always enjoy my undercover reporting.Whenever I got chance,I went underground.I always fascinated by the stories that most of the beauty parlours in small towns are involved in sex trade.So, to get a first hand knowledge,it was necessary for me to get involved in related trade.Luckily,I got a job as a sales representative for a little known company deals with beauty products.I started visiting various retail outlets and beauty parlours in suburban towns.To my utter surprise, I found that most of the parlours in the outskirts of the city turned into brothels.In ladies parlours presence of male customers puzzled me.Then,I found that these beauty parlours mainly deal with these type of customers.In Howrah,I visited a small ladies beauty parlour.When I approach the ladies inside the parlour,they told me to wait . A small room separated by a curtain.I noticed the movement of shadows behind the curtain.I heard the ticking of the clock hanging in the room.I have been waiting for more than a hour.It was about 7:30 on a warm evening.My curiosity grew,I've discovered that ladies indulged in sex with clients.Then a middle aged man,completely drunk, entered the room and told me that customers who visited his parlour didn't need any beauty products.They only want entertainment.He was right.Beauty parlours in small towns are involved in sex trade because they don't get steady customers throughout the year and they found that it is lucrative enough to resist.Here I met a young chirpy girl. I want to know her family background."Don't tell my husband you called me,don't tell him you have my phone number",she begged.Hey,don't worry, from today you are my close buddy,I assured her.The face of the girl was wreathed in smile.Few weeks later,at about 3 A.M I woke up and headed for the bathroom.When I returned to bed,I got a call from that girl.....She desperately needed help from me.I rescued the girl with the help of a NGO from the clutches of her husband who was a pimp and forced her to enter into the flesh trade .But that's another story.
I get lots of story ideas by going underground and when possible,I use my insider knowledge to cover a story.

You can produce excellent visuals by using ordinary cameras

I always believe that it's not the camera its journalism.You can produce excellent visuals by using ordinary and cheap camera.As I wrote in my earlier blog that though, I personally believe that content is the king in any television production,minimum production quality should be maintained.Now online editions of newspapers in America and other countries use videos along with still pictures and even try to compete with Television Networks.I really impressed by the works of photo journalists of newspapers in USA who turned into videography and have done excellent job.Here,I quote Andy Plesser from Bee.tv where he describes that its not the size and the price of the camera,its the skill of the person behind the camera that matters:
With hand held cameras, video reporting is a natural extension of print reporting and holds great advantage for newspaper publishers, says pioneering news producer Tammy Haddad.
In the world of innovative television news producing, Tammy is at the top. She has produced “Larry King Live,” “Hardball with Chris Matthews” and others. These days, she’s reporting on the presidential campaign as a contributor to Newsweek.com with her small Sanyo video camera.
I caught up with her at Advertising 2.0 last week in New York. She explains the ease of shooting and uploading with her device. Moreover she noted that the camera can augment print coverage and can be much faster and less intimidating than a full news crew. And, she says she can file much faster -- and takes glee in beating an ABC News team a few weeks back.
Newspapers, with legions of print reporters, are positioned to expand in video coverage, Tammy says. The equipment is not expensive . Tammy’s Sanyo costs less than $800. Flip by Kara Swisherand CNET News.Dan Ferber is under $200.
Washington Post has trained nearly 200 staffers in how to use video cameras.
I'm in Hollywood today with my Nokia95. I also have a LA-based cameraman shooting in DV to bring you the production quality you expect from your purple channel. But these smaller devices will fill an important spot it the news ecosystem.
In India still photographers of newspapers be prepare for the day when they will simultaneously handle still photographgraphy as well as videography for their websites like their counterparts in America and other western countries.

Be prepare for the worst

Meticulous planning is necessary for any sting operation.It takes time -four ,five months or even more to meteralize the entire operation.First, a strong team headed by an experienced journalist closely monitor the entire operation.Review the progress every day.He must ensure that only junior or less experienced reporter will send into the field along with an experienced reporter.Legal experts should review everything from timee to time,its legal aspects,tapes of sting operation and should have the power to remove the unacceptable parts.Above all you should have a strong pretext and deception so that you can convince your subject.Your contacts should be active particaptants in the whole process and obivously a steady flow of fund to carry out the operation.But, its another point that despite all these precautions including maintaining journalistic ethics ,follow the law properly,you could still be in trouble(read law suits).Operation Duryadhan,operation Chakravuh -these are not the code name of any millitary backed operation against terrorism,but sting operations were carried out against greedy policitians.Operation Duryadhun where 11 MPs accepting money to ask questions in Parliament. Another TV channel came out with yet another expose highlighting corruption among MPs in selecting the projects for Local Area Development Scheme. Conducted by a Cobrapost.com(an online Investigative news portal headed by ex-Tehelka reporter Aniruddha Bahal) and Aajtak investigation, 10 Lok Sabha and one Rajya Sabha members were caught on camera as they accepted money from the team of a non-extistent body called the North Indian Small Manufacturers’ Assosciation (NISMA) for asking questions in the Indian Parliament.The MPs were Narendra Kushwaha (BSP), Anna Saheb M.K. Patil (BJP),Y.G. Mahajan (BJP),Manoj Kumar (RJD),Lal Chandra Kol ,Dr Chhatrapal Singh Lodha (BJP),Pradeep Gandhi (BJP),Suresh Chandel (BJP),Chandra Pratap Singh (BJP),Ramsevak Singh (Congress) Manoj Kumar (RJD).
I quote Aniruddha Bahal from his article appeared in Cobrapost.com.

The MPs submitted questions on NISMA’s behalf and some of them were selected—and their answers given—in the Parliament’s rigorous balloting system that reduces chances of questions being taken up to something akin to a raffle. Some of the questions were rewritten by the middlemen taking us to the MPs concerned before being put in Parliament, some came nearly verbatim and only certain sections of some were picked up by the Parliament staff. The COBRAPOST team also has in its possession many, original signed forms of MPs, blank as well as filled up, which weren’t submitted but set aside as evidence.From the start it was my assessment that in order for a reportorial team to remain undercover for a long duration it would be prudent to have a woman reporter as the primary asset on the field. Their biggest advantage in undercover situations is that even in an extreme atmosphere of suspicion they have greater chances to evade a search for hidden camera equipment then men and for all the right reasons. Besides Suhasini Raj, the reporter, who was inserted in the field with an alias of “Namita Gokhale”, had a past selling insurance and was a fast talker. Never at a loss for words, she ended up doing an extraordinary job on the field, surviving several anxious moments when many middlemen and even MPs got their antennae up. The fictitious front under whose umbrella the COBRAPOST team operated was NISMA, ostensibly an organization out of Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, that lobbied and worked for the interests and welfare of Small Scale Industries (SSIs). That was, in a nutshell, our story. Even though on several occasions I was tempted to enter the field much earlier than I actually did, I held back realizing that it wouldn’t be prudent for there was a chance of somebody recognizing me. When I did eventually take the field with an alias of “Navratan Malhotra”, executive director of the ‘fictitious’ NISMA, I was armed with a ludicrous wig and even more ludicrous glasses.There were seven principal middlemen, namely, Harish Badola, Chandrabhan Gupta, M.K. Tripathi (alias Chotiwala), Mohan, Dinesh Chandra, Ravinder Kumar, Vijay, and some others. While Harish was our conduit to three BJP MPs (Anna Saheb M.K. Patil, Y.G. Mahajan and Chhatrapal Singh Lodha), Gupta introduced us to three MPs (Lal Chandra Kol and Narendra Khushwaha of the BSP and Chandra Pratap Singh of the BJP), Mohan Mani lead us to one (BJP MP Pradeep Gandhi), Vijay took us to two MPs (Ramsevak Singh of the Congress and Suresh Chandel of the BJP), and Ravinder Kumar (BSP’s Raja Ram Pal) and Chotiwala (RJD’s Manoj Kumar) to one MP each. Dinesh was the middleman who sent us across to four other middlemen—Gupta, Vijay, Ravinder and Mohan.
Another important sting operation carried out by Star News-Detective Inteligence Guild(DIG)showed a former Goa Chief Minister and Lok Sabha member Churchil Alemao, former Union Minister and BJP MP Fagan Singh Kulaste and one Samajwadi Party MP and another supported by SP involved in accepting money to allot work for the MPLAD (Member of Parliament Local Area Development) Scheme.Alemao, a Congress MP from South Goa, who discussed commisson in two meetings, is asking the undercover reporters in third meeting to open a bag full of money as commission for a project to popularise Konkani language. The former Chief Minister demands an advance of Rs. Two lakh, but on suspicion grew,he threatened the reporters at which the team backed out.The sting operation also shows Yuvraj Siingh, Personal Secretary of Fagan Singh Kulaste, a former Union Minister, taking money on behalf of BJP MP Chandra Pratap Singh, who was also exposed in the sting operation'Operation Duryodhan'.
From these two successful operations,one can understand that deception play a major role in any sting operationn.As I mentioned earlier proper planning and co-ordination between reporters and contacts is a must.An Investigative Reporter should always remember that what happens if his or her cover is blown?So,be prepare for the worst.