Being An Undercover Reporter
What is an undercover reporter?
An undercover reporter is somebody who operates in a covert way to gain a story. Basically, pretending to be someone that he isn't
What is the research process?
If you're doing the research part, it's basically means that you're sitting around on the computer most of the time looking up the subject or the subjects that you're actually going to report on.
What is the planning process?
Making sure that your equipment is all working. You check it. You make sure all your batteries are charged for your cameras, all your hidden microphones. You basically have to go through the role play of what you're going to actually be doing when you meet the subject. So it's quite a long day really and it's quite tiring before you actually go out to meet the subject that you're actually trying to entice.
What is the average day like in the field?
Once you're completely kitted up and ready to go, you're just sitting around. The timeline is completely different upon each story. There's no average day.
How dangerous is it?
How much do undercover reporters get paid?
It depends on your experience and who you are actually working for to be honest. But it varies from about £250 to maybe £500 a day.
Who pays you to be an undercover reporter?
The people who have hired you to uncover whatever they are looking at. You know, they basically approach you because there is a lot of people out there in the system who have the same or similar qualifications to myself and by word of mouth really.
Is it better paid because of the danger?
Not really. On average, depending on who you are working for, the pay is virtually the same. Nobody incorporates danger pay in the job. It's a set rate and that's it. You either take it or you don't take it.
Who decides where you go undercover?
The team or myself will decide actually when we go undercover. As I said before, we'll do our research, and we'll work out our tactics of how we are going to either snare this person or whatever we've got to do for this person. Then we'll decide where and when, amongst ourselves, the team, when we go undercover.
Who chooses assignments?
That depends on who you are working for. If you are working for the newspapers or the television, they would decide when they want you to go and do something. They will then approach you and ask you: Is this feasible? Can you do this task? Obviously, it's then up to yourself whether you want to take that off.
How do the papers and TV choose assignments?
If, for example, a researcher or the TV will be looking into a story and realize perhaps that they need to put somebody undercover on this one, and then they'll approach you.
Are undercover reporters paid per undercover report?
Yes and no. Some are on salaries. Some are paid freelance, a daily salary by the company, or they'll agree a set rate for the task in hand.
Do I need to be a good writer to be an undercover reporter?
Yes, you do if you are working for the newspapers and news program because obviously the grammar has to be correct. If you do just in a timeline report - no, you don't. But then what we'll do is we'll work either with a reporter or a producer of the program to finalize the script.
Do assignments ever fall through fruitlessly?
Yes, quite a lot. You put a lot of hard work into an assignment and then all of a sudden it'll break away, which you just have to get on with it and move on to the next one.
Is there any salvaging a broken assignment?
It depends on the story line, but if you've been found out we normally try to pull back and leave it, but if there's a chance to salvage it in the future we'll go back and look at it.
Do the people you're reporting on always get arrested?
Do undercover reporters ever have to give evidence in court?
Yes. But I've not actually been called to court before. Normally, dependent on the case, the evidence that you've got from your footage or your recordings on mini-disk is suffice.
Do you get a whole new identity set up for you?
That also depends on the story that you are actually working on. But what we normally try to do is we change our surnames around, and it's almost time dependent on the story. If we've got enough time, we build a full sized identity. But if we don't have enough time, then basically we just work with what we've got, we normally change our surnames.
Is what you do ever illegal?
As far as I'm aware, nothing I've done has ever been illegal. I can't speak for my other colleagues, but the team that I work with now, we always stick by the law.
Do you wear a wire?
I have worn wires in the past, yes. And as I said before, it depends on the actual job that you are going for whether you wear a wire or you wear a camera or you go completely with nothing on your first meeting.
Do you hide cameras about your person?
Yes we do. We carry various forms of miniature cameras. There's all sorts on the market that's easily available to the public as well, but the stuff that we use isn't available to the public.
Where do the stories come from?
Where the stories come from, can be the newspapers, television, even insurance companies, it all depends really. If anybody wants to find out anything about you or unearth it, really they'll approach you. So the stories could be as I said before, anything from newspapers, insurance companies or television programs.
How much planning is involved in an undercover story?
We normally put together at least a week of research and then we sort of do a couple of days further digging around on a story. So I suppose about ten days normally. But it depends on what the actual story line is. Each one is completely different as you will know.
How long are you generally undercover for?
That depends on the story itself. Some of the stories I've been involved in, you are undercover maybe for an hour or anything up to 24 or 36 hours. It depends on the sort of the story that you are living at the time and on which role that you have taken on or who you are for the actual story itself. So it can be anything from one hour to 36 hours, or even longer. But in some cases - extreme cases, people have been undercover for two years or more.
What do you call the people you're investigating?
It depends. Various undercover guys use various names. Target. Subjects. It's either a target or a subject.
What's the first meeting with a target like?
Generally the first meeting is a clean meeting where your not wearing any wires or recording equipment at all. We use this as a bonding session so there is a little bit of trust built up between the subject and yourself. You have also got to be aware that if you have never met this person before he might be slightly wary depending on his background or what he has done. You know he is from the criminal element and he is aware that people are after him, so there is always a chance he may want to pat you down or check you out. Besides it has happened in the past to myself, so normally we wouldn't wear anything at all at the first meeting.
What do the backup team do?
It depends really on what job you're on. If you're only going out to meet a single person or maybe two people, generally no. But if it's a gang element, or a big story, then you would obviously have backup. When we operate undercover, we normally operate in two's anyway, so your backup really is your wingman. The role of the backup team really is, as basic self-explanation: "They're there to back you up if anything goes wrong." So they could be, for example, sitting in a pub having a drink, or they could be sitting outside in a car waiting for a signal - from yourself or a van or whatever - if there's difficulty and that they need to be extracted.
