What Would You Do: The journalism that tweaks reality, then reports what happens?

This article reports on the history and contemporary manifestations of journalism that tampers with reality and then reports on the results, as when reporters pose as a person needing help to see how many people respond. Examples are given from newspapers such as the "Washington Post," the "New York Times," and "Reader's Digest." The trend is compared with reality television programs, and the "What Would You Do?" series of "Primetime" news magazine episodes on ABC. The ethical debates over such efforts are discussed, and historical experiments in social psychology, such as those conducted in the 1960s by Stanley Milgram, are also mentioned.