• August 6, 2012

New York University has launched a database chronicling undercover journalism dating back to the 1800s. The archive, “Undercover Reporting,” ranges from stories about the slave trade in the 1850s to efforts to boycott Jewish-owned businesses in the U.S. in the late 1930s to treatment of soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the 21st century.

The database, www.undercoverreporting.org, is a joint endeavor of NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and the university’s Division of Libraries. The database is designed for scholars, student researchers, and journalists, who can search by writer, publication, story topic, or method (e.g., prison infiltrations, shadowing migrants, impersonation, etc.). It also includes critics’ reactions to these tactics, such as their response to hidden cameras.