Where could we hide a photographer? “Chicago does have a history for doing investigative reporting undercover when it’s necessary because there’s no other way to get the story, and there was truly no other way to get this story. And make a hot dog.”, Plus, a bar offered special reporting opportunities because so many inspectors had jurisdiction: health inspectors, liquor inspectors, building inspectors—from both city and state agencies. Please try your request again later. The deadline to apply is Nov. 23. And none of them—not even Phil Barasch, who had admitted on national TV to committing tax fraud—went to jail. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in. “And that’s just what we wanted,” Zekman says. “The assignment was to pub crawl,” he says, “and look for a short redhead behind the bar.”. Is it as wide-open as it was? And not everybody was on the take. Zekman said she pitched the idea to buy a tavern when she joined the Sun-Times staff from the Tribune’s investigative task force, which didn’t get approval for the idea. (Decades later, Wallace titled his memoir Between You and Me in Mr. Fixit’s honor. I don’t think so.”, [Correction: The original version of this story— and the audio version still posted here— placed the Mirage at Superior and Clark instead of Superior and Wells. They named it The Mirage and started getting ready to open. “We weren’t there for more than a few minutes when he just openly told us that he would tell us how to take care of the inspectors,” Zekman recalls. “We could not stay in business longer,” says Zekman. The reporting and photographs made for a hilarious series that brought to light serious corruption.
There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. The event, held at at the same River North bar, now called Brehon Pub, featured former Sun-Times reporters Pam Zekman and Zay N. Smith, photographer Jim Frost, and Better Government Association chief investigator Bill Recktenwald, who purchased the bar with Zekman using aliases. None of them denied that the stories about them were accurate.
He offered to help them cheat on their taxes, and to make sure inspectors didn’t bother them. The reporters manning the bar knew to place the cash envelopes where the camera was focused. And the story went beyond inspectors: Accountants became a big part of it. Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free. Earlier this year, Facebook agreed to pay out $650 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that accused the company of violating an Illinois privacy law. Bill Recktenwald sounds like he kind of enjoyed it. An ongoing federal investigation, spurred by the Mirage findings, managed indictments of a third of the city’s electrical inspectors in 1978, with more indictments to come later. Then, after just two months of operations, the Mirage closed—on Halloween.
For legal reasons, they could not make anyone do something they wouldn’t normally do, which Zekman said meant they couldn’t stuff cash in an inspector’s pocket, for example. But she could never, ever get anyone to go on the record. Readers responded too—by coming forward with their own stories. The building inspector did look around, took note of a couple of serious issues—then scooped up his fifteen bucks and left without writing up a thing. This edition includes a new afterword by the authors.
newsletter, Immigrants rush to submit citizenship applications days before fee is set to soar, Man in custody after hostage situation at Dolton motel, Church where Emmett Till’s open casket drew world’s attention makes list of endangered historic places, Man shot, critically wounded at 63rd Street Red Line station, Family, friends hold out hope during birthday party for missing postal worker: ‘We have not forgotten’, Dread Head Cowboy denies abuse to horse, wants focus to be on children at risk for violence, Despite awful slide, Dallas Keuchel still believes in White Sox, White Sox, Rodon blow three-run lead, get swept by Indians. “And the dumber we acted, the more people wanted to tell us how things really operated.
A few months after the Mirage stories came out, federal prosecutors indicted a third of the city’s electrical inspectors. Please try again. “The enormous success of this series sparked a real debate within journalism about: Is undercover reporting ethical?”. That was good enough for the publication’s lawyers.
The project was a finalist for a Pulitzer, but in the end the tactics were considered too controversial for that recognition. “There was concern that people already were getting an idea that we were there.”. “Over and over and over again,” says Zekman, “they would say, ‘I can show you how to skim 20 percent, I can show you how to skim 30 percent, 40.’”.
Who Is America Named After, Trail Wallet, Enemies Quotes, Clinton G Martin Pool, Tiempos Y Cambios Central De Sermones, Edf Hinkley Point C, Reginald Bosanquet Wife, Dazed And Confused Ruel Chords Ukulele, Andrew Gardner Age, Aisnsw Login, St James Neighborhood London, Recrear Significado, Gordon Buchanan Height And Weight, Kelly Emberg Age, Nrl 9s Results, Gregorc Learning Styles Pdf, The History Of Human-animal Interaction, Morgan Meaning, Mgm Grand Arena, Seven Of Nine, Hydro-québec Hq, Black American Inventor, South Elgin News, Facts About Liverpool Fc, English Syntax Checker, Sometime Ago Meaning, Communication Breakdown Meaning Led Zeppelin, Toronto Fc Memorabilia, Zoom 8 Inch Lizards, Plane Crash Ice On Wings, Oniru Beach Gate Fee, Why Was Car 54, Where Are You Cancelled, When I Get My Hands On You Piano Sheet Music, Chico Buarque Songs, Xmm Register, Air Canada Insider Trading, Javascript Return Multiple Arrays, Claremont Mckenna Ranking Scandal, Rabbitohs Team 2020, Procesos Estratégicos, Stablemates Lead Sheet Pdf, Buenos Aires Tiempo 14 Días,
Recent Comments