Investigative journalism can be described similar to solving a jigsaw. It starts with a pile of pieces that are jumbled and then, slowly they join to form a picture.
For any democracy the role of watchdog journalism is vital. Watchdog journalism is able to hold individuals accountable by exposing abuses of authority and corruption. From Upton Sinclair’s expose of the meatpacking industry to Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein exposing Watergate the type of reporting has had significant impact.
Fake Academic Credentials
Many people across the world buy fake academic certificates. From a single operator using an printer located in the city’s Chinatown to a pre-ordered online operation, the market for fake diplomas is both diverse and growing.
The mills for degrees that were only a handful of operators who would make certificates at their kitchen tables to sell on matching book covers have now gone modern, with chat rooms, websites and edu suffixes on their domain names. They also have pseudo-accrediting agencies which cite strict, but not specified, standards. This billion-dollar business lets you get a bachelor’s, master’s or doctorate without ever attending class, taking exams, or doing any work.
Making up a fake transcript for a college is a different way to acquire one of these fake diplomas. If you’re found guilty, it’s a white-collar crime that can result in prison time.
Marketplace and former FBI agent Allen Ezell teamed up to buy a fake degree from Almeda University. This online school offers the PhD of biblical counseling. Using an alias, Lack was able to provide Almeda University with backstory over the phone, and was then able to qualify for the degree by providing his professional credentials.
Diploma Mills Investigation
The fake diploma industry is a billion-dollar enterprise, according to experts. Marketplace looked into one of the largest players Axact, a factory in Pakistan known as Axact, by examining documents of business, studying customer information and cross-referencing accounts on social media. We found many Canadians who might have bought degrees from this fake school.
There are laws that prevent the selling and misrepresentation of fraudulent certificates, it’s 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 the growing number of watchdog organizations and go now https://lambang-toanquoc.com/.
Moreover, many of these fake schools use names that are eerily similar to those of legitimate schools. It’s difficult to identify them with an background check. Professional background screeners are like detectives and they use their experience to spot the red flags that an applicant has in his academic record.
Other indicators that diploma mills are a fraud include a name that sounds suspiciously alike and an address or website that doesn’t mention the school’s address. The idea of visiting these schools in the real world, as our reporters did with New World Mission Dunamis International University in Cape Town and Northern Ireland Institute of Business Technology in Belfast is a crucial step to expose diploma mills.
Integrity of educational qualifications
Investigative journalism is a skill that takes dogged persistence and a thorough understanding of how to uncover patterns and anomalies. Investigative journalism requires a variety of capabilities, including document analysis, anonymity and on-record interviews, subscription-based tools for research and more. It’s usually a slow and labor-intensive work, but it could expose the truth about powerful people, politicians, criminals, corporations and government officials accountable for their actions.
Marketplace For instance, they looked into the largest diploma mill of Axact and obtained business records. They also inter-referenced customer data to determine if buyers were in the market to purchase fake degrees. The team also visited the locations of fake universities like New World Mission Dunamis International University in South Africa and Northern Ireland Institute of Business Technology in London to establish their authenticity and see how they operated.
The effect of diploma mills are twofold, Gollin says: They devalue legitimate degrees which students have spent years and thousands of dollars to earn. And they can put the public at risk when professionals such as engineers and doctors lack proper education.
Investigative journalism is crucial for this reason. Whether it’s the Watergate scandal that shook 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 can uncover corruption and make the world a safer one.
Counterfeit Degrees Exposed
The industry of fake degrees is flourishing and the global industry doing an estimated $7 billion per year. The explosion of the industry is due in part to the ease with the ability of people to get fraudulent degrees. The industry is also thriving because people fake resumes in order to get a job and earn money.
Degree mills remain in operation despite increasing scrutiny by authorities due to their profit motive. A fake school can offer thousands of degrees every year at a cost that is minimal because the fraudsters are able to create degrees at a low cost by using computer software and outsourcing their actual staffing to overseas suppliers. The fake universities advertise in legitimate newspapers and magazines such as Economist USA Today and Forbes. They also have ads in Discover, Investors Business Daily and Discover.
Declan Walsh, the investigative journalist who uncovered Axact’s fake degree business, has recently revealed to journalists from all over the globe documents were discovered during his investigation. They included 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 screenshots of Axact’s internal publication. Several documents from these have been used by the BBC to compile the documentary, File on 4: Degrees of Deceit, which will be airing this week on the Radio 4 show, ‘File on Four’.