Once it was filled with urine from home, once with apple juice, and once with urine I had bought from a man in the bathroom of a nearby McDonald's. With a clinic supervisor standing a few feet away, I would stand at a toilet or urinal, slip the tube out through my fly and squeeze the liquid into the cup. Officials at the city drug agency and probation division were shocked when I told them how I had circumvented the tests. That, I said, was the only way to get an accurate story. The resulting story would have left me and the readers with little idea of what the truth was.
Misrepresentation can indeed hurt our credibility.
But in this case the undercover work, which was explained in the article, bolstered the story's credibility. Readers realized that I knew firsthand what I was writing about. The city public health commissioner thanked me for the story, saying it uncovered problems that otherwise would have gone undetected. Now clients are asked for ID at the clinic. Procedures were changed so that supervisors actually see clients fill the cups.