In the same incident Mendelsohn was approached by an undercover journalist posing as a representative of American energy companies who were seeking to ignore environmental laws.

On 22 December, the Daily Telegraph published a recording of Michael Moore obtained by two journalists posing as constituents during one of his weekly constituency surgeries.

Federal investigators raided the New Delhi offices of the muckraking news Web site Tehelka.com, which became famous last year by setting up its own sting operation to film politicians and army commanders who accepted bribes from journalists posing as arms dealers.

OLAF also cleared Pablo Zalba Bidegain, because while he had talked to journalists posing as lobbyists about tabling amendments in exchange for money, he had not accepted any payments.

Comfortably ensconced on his couch, he genially admitted in an interview that, yes, the grainy hidden-camera shots showed him taking piles of cash from a journalist posing as a businessman who wanted help getting a defense contract.

In March 2001, the Tehelka group released incriminating videos of the BJP President Bangaru Laxman, senior army officers and NDA members accepting bribes from journalists posing as agents and businessmen.

During the cold war, American intelligence agencies had journalists on their payrolls or operatives posing as journalists, particularly in Western Europe, with the aim of producing pro-American articles to influence the populations of those countries.

Along with other journalists posing as owners of a fashion business eager to sponsor a beauty queen, Ms. García traveled to the home turf of Miss Spain 2001, the southern province of Alicante, where fixes had long been rumored.

An outspoken socialist, Mr. Fernandes championed a policy of expelling multinational corporations like Coca-Cola and I.B.M. from India in the 1970's, and more recently survived a scandal in which officials of his party were filmed accepting bribes from journalists posing as military contractors.

Also last year, a journalist posing as a buyer at a traditional medicine market under an elevated highway in Johannesburg was offered a human brain, an eye and kneecaps for about $230, according to a news report.