Well now people are going to be skeptical of anyone claiming to be an AP reporter. This is the same exact scenario as the CIA claiming to be an NGO giving out vaccinations in order to track down Osama bin Laden. Of course some folks will say "The ends justify the means".
Would it be outside the realm of possibility to have people outright refuse to cooperate or even harm actual AP reporters because they are now suspect? Claiming reporters to be spies is a fairly common phenomenon.
I clearly see the issue with spying under the guise of humanitarian organizations. My guy says it's a little less severe with reporters, but still an issue.
I wonder where the lines are? Who else should law enforcement not impersonate?
In general, I would say impersonating a criminal in order to get into an organization isn't bad. Generic impersonations can also work as well, but it starts to get fuzzy there. Impersonating an NGO could still harm other completely unrelated NGOs. Then you get into impersonating a known entity and you have the potential to cause real damage. I don't want someone impersonating me or my family, that could cause a real, lasting damaging impact even if just by a bad reputation.
I can certainly understand a company having the same thoughts and issues. That's why banks spend money on fighting phishing attacks, someone leveraging a banks branding to hurt consumers hurts the reputation regardless of the bank's lack of involvement.
Would it be outside the realm of possibility to have people outright refuse to cooperate or even harm actual AP reporters because they are now suspect? Claiming reporters to be spies is a fairly common phenomenon.