during the 1980s and 90s. It consists of ambushing target interviewees (especially right after speeches), hidden cameras, and catching people off guard, when someone was unaware and/or unprepared.
Journalists in the 80s started to use this form of journalism to press politicians. Some were able to get a rise out of politicians and some were able to get new answers. Significant moments in the 80s and 90s of "gotcha" journalism are...
- 1987: Paul Taylor exposes Gary Hart's adultery
- 1992: the H.W Bush affair
- 1992: Bill Clinton's affair with Gennifer Flowers
- 1999: George W. Bush drug scandal
Journalism shifted within the two aforementioned decades in order to expose falsehoods. Oftentimes, cornering interviewees was the ideal way of getting unintended or new answers.
Other times, journalists were divided from their colleges in terms of ethics. Some journalists enabled the use of hidden cameras in order to get their own information, be it to start off their story (like scandals) or to add to an existing story.
This "classic" variation of gotcha journalism has mostly gone away and evolved (or mutated) overtime.
Nowadays, hidden cameras are still used, but they're often better hidden or made into an inconspicuous item for both journalism and less appropriate reasons. Many women, outside of the realm of journalism, are finding these hidden cameras in fire alarms, shower heads, and alarm clocks in a personal sweep of rooms or properties they're staying at.
Journalists also use CCTV and body camera footage. CCTV allows for footage of a public space (like a street) as surveillance. Body camera footage often works as a first-person filming while someone, often being law enforcement, is in action. While others use CCTV and body cam footage to keep someone accountable, journalists can use it as a manner to add to their story, be it for details or as proof for conflict or truth.
Other journalist and investigators will go undercover if footage can't be acquired by previously mentioned means. Some journalists that go undercover risk a lawsuit depending on how they went undercover, like if it's a story about a business but no one in the business were aware of the journalist's presence or true intention.
Recently, many stories that journalists make are from leaked documents and information. The biggest scandal was the leak about the Ukraine-Russia War.
Whistleblowers are a favorite for gotcha journalists, especially if they're willing to fully step up into the spotlight. Whistleblowers are people within an organization that are willing to speak out about a certain issue or failing of the organization and have rights and protections under certain United States departments.
Some, like those depicted on the left, come out in masses to capture images of their target celebrity or figure.
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