NPR gets Punked

Last week, Ronald Schiller, an NPR executive was caught on hidden cameras calling the Tea Party racist and making other non-PC remarks while meeting with people posing as Muslim philanthropists. In this essay, Peter Catapano of the NY Times Opinionator blog asks: is James O'Keefe, the mastermind behind this "expose," a journalist? Should we call what he did journalism?

Catapano quotes many opinions on the role of "guerrilla reporting" in journalism, and he doesn't side definitively with one side or the other. On one hand, a little bit of deception is a natural part of journalism. For example, reporters often pretend to know less about a subject than they really know in order to get a subject to open up. On the other hand, it seems especially underhanded

and sneaky to create an entire fake organization and record a conversation via hidden cameras.

What do you think? Is this a legitimate form of investigation, or a sneaky prank? And either way, should the "expose" that's been uncovered be taken seriously or dismissed?

(note: I wrote this last week - for some reason the post never published...but I think the issue is still relevant.)