The magazine has published its 35,000-word investigation of a Louisiana for-profit prison, based on reporter Shane Bauer’s four-month stint as a prison guard. The magazine walked up to the line of accepted journalism ethics: reporters shouldn’t lie or misrepresent themselves as they pursue a story, writes media columnist Margaret Sullivan. “Undercover reporting becomes necessary,” the magazine’s editor in chief, Clara Jeffery said, “when it’s about people who don’t get their stories told very often.”