Investigative journalism could be compared to the process of assembling the pieces of a puzzle. It starts with a pile of jumbled pieces and slowly, they come together to create a picture.
For any democracy Watchdog journalism is essential. Watchdog journalism can be used to hold people accountable, exposing corrupt practices and abuses of authority. From Upton Sinclair’s expose on the meatpacking industry, to Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncovering Watergate this kind of reporting has had significant impact.
False Academic Credentials for Students
Fraudulent academic credentials are a billion-dollar business and millions of people around the world purchasing fake diplomas and degrees. From a lone operator with printing equipment located in the city’s Chinatown to a ready-to-order online operation, the market for fake diplomas is diverse and expanding.
Degree mills, once only the domain of a few small-scale operators who would make certificates at their tables in the kitchen and selling the certificates on matchbook covers are now modernized with slick websites, chat rooms, edu suffixes on their domain names, as well as pseudo-accrediting bodies that cite rigid, yet undefined – standards. In this multi-billion-dollar business you can acquire a bachelor’s or master’s degree with no classes, taking tests and without any work whatsoever.
It is also easy to create fake college transcripts to get one of these fake degrees. If you are caught, this is an offence that could lead to being in jail for a period of time.
Marketplace and the former FBI agent Allen Ezell teamed up to purchase a fake diploma from Almeda University. This online school offers the PhD of biblical counseling. Lack, using an alias over the phone, gave Almeda University backstory and qualified for the degree upon providing some of his credentials.
Diploma Mills Investigation
The fake diploma industry is a billion-dollar business according to the experts. Marketplace examined one of the most prolific players that is a Pakistan-based diploma manufacturing company known as Axact, by examining documents of business, studying the customer’s information, and comparing accounts on social media. We discovered a lot of Canadians who could have bought degrees from this fake school.
While there are laws in place to prohibit the sale and misrepresentation of fraudulent credentials, it is still difficult to pursue diploma mills. This issue is a thorny one that has drawn the attention of UNESCO and federal prosecutors as in addition to the Department of Education and the Federal Trade Commission. It remains a challenging task for investigators, despite a increasing number of watchdog groups.
Many fake schools have names that sound eerily like the names of genuine schools. Therefore, it’s difficult for background checks to distinguish these fake schools. Background screeners employed by professionals are similar to detectives, and they employ their expertise to detect red flags in an applicant’s education background.
In addition to the suspiciously similar name, other clues to a potential fraud include an address that isn’t listed as well as websites that do not provide the address of the institution. Visits to these universities like the ones our reporters made at the New World Mission Dunamis International University, Cape Town, and Northern Ireland Institute of Business Technology, Belfast, are crucial steps to expose diploma mills.
Integrity of Educational Qualifications
Investigative journalism demands a lot of persistence and an ability to recognize the patterns and anomalies. Investigative journalism requires a variety of capabilities, including document analysis, anonymous and recorded interviews as well as subscription-based tools to conduct research as well as other tools. It’s often slow and labor-intensive work, but it could uncover the truth that holds powerful corporate executives, criminals, politicians, and governments accountable for their actions.
For example, when Marketplace investigated the biggest diploma mill Axact, they obtained business records and cross-referenced personal data to verify that the customers were actually looking to purchase fake degrees. The group also visited fake universities such as New World Mission Dunamis International University, South Africa, and Northern Ireland Institute of Business Technology, London to verify their legitimacy and understand the ways they operate.
The impact of diploma mills has two sides, Gollin says: They make fake degrees look like a bargain that students work for hours and tens of thousands of dollars to obtain. They also expose the public to danger when professionals such as doctors and engineers lack the right education.
Investigative journalism is essential because of this. Whether it’s the Watergate scandal that rocked America or the recent Nobel Peace Prize winners Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov for their fight for freedom of expression in Russia and the Philippines, it is able to uncover corruption and make the world a more secure place.
Counterfeit Degrees Exposed
Globally, the fake diploma industry is estimated to be worth $7 billion annually. The rapid growth of this industry is due in part to the ease by that people are now able to obtain fraudulent degrees. But the industry also thrives because people want to work and make money, so they lie on their resumes and apply fake degrees, even though it is usually risky for them and click here now https://lambang-toanquoc.com/.
The profit motive of degree mills is a major reason why they remain in operation, even in the face of increasing scrutiny from authorities. The scammers are able to produce thousands of fake degrees per year at a relatively low cost by using software and outsourcing the actual staffing. Many of these fake schools even have advertisements in legitimate magazines and newspapers like the Economist USA Today, Forbes, Psychology Today, Discover, Investors Business Daily, and regional editions of Time and Newsweek.
Declan Walsh, the investigative journalist who discovered Axact’s false degree business, has recently revealed to journalists from all over the globe documents were discovered during his investigation. These documents include scans of registration forms for the mailboxes of Belford High School and Belford University in Texas and California and letters from the fake International Accreditation Organization, and images of Axact’s internal publication. A number of these documents have been utilized by the BBC in the production of the documentary File on 4: Degrees of Deception, which is being broadcast this week on the Radio 4 show, ‘File on Four’.