In more refined terms, it can be called
Investigative Journalism or Undercover Journalism. A Sting Operation is an
operation designed to catch a person committing a crime by means of deception.
A complicated confidence game planned and executed with great care. Sting
Operation is an information-gathering exercise; it looks for facts that are not
easy to obtain by simple requests and searches, or those that are actively
being concealed, suppressed or distorted.
There are times when sting operations, according to
the result and consequence got divided into two types.
Positive Sting Operation: Positive Sting Operation
is one which results in the interest of the society, which pierces the veils of
the working of the government. It is carried out in the public interest. Due to
positive sting operation society is benefited because it makes government
responsible and accountable. It leads to the transparency in the government.
Examples:
An operation by an online news site called Tehelka
to catch top politicians and army officers taking bribes from journalists
posing as businessmen.
Negative Sting Operation: negative sting operations
do not benefit the society, but they do harm the society and its individuals.
It unnecessarily violates the privacy of the individual without any beneficial
results to the society.
Examples:
The Supreme Court on Wednesday, 7th February, 2007,
issued notices to a private news channel and its reporter for carrying out a
sting operation carried out in the year 2004, which allegedly showed a
non-bailable warrant could be procured against any person by paying a hefty
amount in the court.
The recent sting operations have brought a huge
change in the society where people somehow are able to open their eyes on
different perspectives.
India TV’s casting couch expose:
It was probably the biggest shock to the
entertainment industry when India TV exposed actor Shakti Kapoor and Aman Verma
allegedly involved in seeking sexual favors for struggling actors. India TV in
a sting operation sent an undercover agent as struggler to the aforementioned,
who were caught on tape seeking seeking sexual favor from the reporter. This
sting operation even marked an emergence of India TV in mainstream media.
Cobra Post sting operation:
The online magazine Cobra Post, over a period of
several months, conducted a sting operation on three big banks – HDFC, ICICI,
Axis alleging how these banks are involved in channeling huge amounts of black
money into the banking system as laundered white money. Employees of these
banks were caught n camera offering to convert black money into white money.
Now there will be questions if sting operation
should be carried on or not?
Sting operation is deemed to be
legal by Delhi high court. Its legal under Article 51A (b) of the Indian
constitution! But sting operations are only legal if you do it for the
betterment of society and public good. In any other reason apart from this, it
will be considered invasion of privacy and hence, illegal!
Sting operation is a fantastic tool
not only for the media but also for a common for catching anybody red handed.
It can be used for throwing light on the topics likes corruption, bribe and
frauds.
Rohit Mitra
( PG MEDIA 2015-2017)
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