At the outset, sting operations are unethical and expose a perverse tendency among a few media houses or journalists to create ripples among a cross-section of society that is ready to lap up any information bordering on sensationalism (OpEd page, ‘From the Readers’ Editor’ – “Lying to get the truth”, May 28). In the past, the Bofors investigation and the exposé on the cement scandal in Maharashtra are examples of investigative journalism which employed painstaking and conventional methods and had greater reach and acceptability. Resorting to a sting operation exposes a lack of dynamism on a journalist’s part to bring out the facts by means of a fair investigation. It can also result in irreversible damage to the victim. There needs to be a legal stand on sting operations so that journalistic ethics are preserved. With social media now almost out of control and there no way of checking misinformation being spread, journalists have a moral duty to earnestly pursue the rules and the standards for a proper conduct and practice of journalistic principles.
Subramanian Venkatraman,
Chennai
