Remember when undercover, hidden camera sting operations conducted by citizen journalists were criticized and ridiculed as “not real journalism”. Remember when any report produced under those auspices were supposed to be immediately disregarded as a hoax and severely edited?
And, remember wondering if the real reason these investigations were being criticized was because the targets were left-wing sacred cows like ACORN and Planned Parenthood? And wondering if the media would be more forgiving if the target was conservatives?
Here’s your answer: ABC News has sent an actor undercover as a security guard to pretend he’s challenging the citizenship of latino-looking people in a restaurant.
Here is how reporter John Quinones sets up his under-cover investigation: So, we took our cameras down to Arizona, where a controversial, new law would give police the authority to question and perhaps deport anyone who, in their eyes, appears to be in the U.S. illegally. So, I go undercover, pretending to be someone who is about to be arrested and deported, simply by the way I look.
Of course, Arizona police have no authority to deport people based on how they look or for any other reason. More importantly, the Arizona law is not at all as Mr. Quinones states.
Furthermore, in the wake of the hysterics from left-wing media watchdog groups over the ACORN and Planned Parenthood undercover stings, it’s pretty incredible to see ABC News employ the same tactics without any criticism.