Research methods
Wallraff came to prominence thanks to his striking journalistic research methods and several major books on lower class working conditions and tabloid journalism. This style of research is based on what the reporter experiences personally after covertly becoming part of the subgroup under investigation. Wallraff would construct a fictional identity so that he was not recognisable as a journalist.
In the German newspaper Die Zeit of 1977 Walraff formulates a sentence that is central to his work: “If I want to make myself the mouthpiece of the voiceless who have little to say even though they have a lot to say, that means to me that I am one of them, at least temporarily.”
Undercover journalism
Wallraff first took up this kind of investigative journalism in 1969 when he published 13 unerwünschte Reportagen (“13 undesired reports”) in which he described what he experienced when acting the parts of an alcoholic, a homeless person, and a worker in a chemicals factory.
He travelled to Greece in May 1974 at the time of the Ioannides military dictatorship. While in Syntagma Square, he protested against human right violations. He was arrested and tortured by the police as he purposely did not carry on him any papers that could identify him as a foreigner. After his identity was revealed, Wallraff was convicted and sentenced to 14 months in jail. He was released in August, after the end of the dictatorship.
https://everything.explained.today/G%c3%bcnter_Wallraff/
German Journalist Once Jailed in Greece During the Junta, Revisits Korydallos Prison
Wallraff traveled to Greece in May 1974. While in Syntagma Square, he protested against human right violations in the country and was arrested and tortured by the police. After his identity was revealed, he was convicted and sentenced to 14 months in jail. He was released in August, after the end of the dictatorship.
Günter Wallraff: Undercover journalist
His investigative methods have led to the creation of the Swedish verb ‘wallraffa’ meaning “to expose misconduct from the inside by assuming a role” which has been officially included in word list of the Swedish Academy.
https://circleof13.blogspot.com/2008/12/gunter-wallraff-undercover-journalist.html