Pulitzer Prize Winning New York Times Reporter Reminisces About His James O'Keefe Days

Pulitzer Prize Winning New York Times reporter James Risen took to Twitter Tuesday to reminisce about the good old days when he did what the mainstream media condemns James O’Keefe for doing: going undercover to break news and report a truth.

To bust city officials trolling for bribes, one undercover operation involved the purchase of a bar where reporters disguised themselves as bartenders:

—

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, undercover reporting was more common than it is today.

— James Risen (@JamesRisen) October 28, 2014

—

Reporters posed as bartenders, and waited for crooked city officials to come around looking for bribes.

— James Risen (@JamesRisen) October 28, 2014

—

The Mirage led to a blockbuster series of stories in the Sun Times and on 60 Minutes. It was exciting to read their stories each day

— James Risen (@JamesRisen) October 28, 2014

— 

Risen also recounts breaking a story about a proposed merger between General Motors and Toyota by disguising himself as a GM security official: 

—

I posed as a GM security official, and the other reporter posed as an administrative secretary.

— James Risen (@JamesRisen) October 28, 2014

—

I would call and say I was a GM security official and needed to talk to the GM group. The other reporter did the same as a secretary.

— James Risen (@JamesRisen) October 28, 2014

— 

Risen says he returned to undercover work for his new book and laments how conventional wisdom has turned against the tactic: 

—

I never did undercover work again until my new book. It went out of fashion in journalism. Now the conventional wisdom is against it.

— James Risen (@JamesRisen) October 28, 2014

Risen is a beloved and trusted member among the same mainstream media elites who attack, undermine, or outright ignore the undercover work James O’Keefe has done to get to the truth of issues like voter fraud and the way in which media sacred cows like ACORN, Planned Parenthood, and National Public Radio conduct business.

Of course the conventional wisdom is against undercover reporting today. The media can no longer control who does the undercover work and who is targeted, so the tactic is savaged as an excuse to ignore, dismiss, and invalidate the inconvenient results.

John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC