How Journalists Find the Truth

Johanna Bejarano | Northwest Public Broadcasting News Reporter

Jennifer Henrichsen | Edward R. Murrow College of Communication

NOTE TO EDUCATORS

This session features two videos:

• Johanna Bejarano, a journalist at Northwest Public Broadcasting, shares the behind-the-scenes process of investigating a recent story
• Jennifer Henrichsen, an Assistant Professor at the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, discusses the risks journalists face and principles they follow

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You can watch one or both with students. With these videos, we hope to get students thinking about how credible information is created and why we trust some sources more than others.

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The videos are followed by optional activities.

IMAGINE SOMEONE TOLD YOU…

The grading system in your district was changing next year, making a score of 85 an A and 70 a B.

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You try to look it up online, but can’t find anything.

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What steps would you take to figure out if this was true?

HOW JOURNALISTS FIND THE TRUTH

KEY CONCEPTS AND PRINCIPLES FOR ASPIRING JOURNALISM STUDENTS

ACTIVITY OPTION: YOU’RE THE REPORTER

• Think back to the grading change scenario
• Now imagine you have to write an article about this for your school’s newspaper to let people know if this change was real.
• What steps would you take to make sure you tell the full story?
• Who would you interview?
• What documents would you look at?

ACTIVITY OPTION: TRUTH SANDWICH

• Writing ‘truth sandwiches’ is an important journalistic technique, but YOU can also use it when trying to correct misinformation in your own life
• Practice writing a few truth sandwiches to set the record straight on these false claims:
• You can buy seeds to grow blue strawberries ❌
• Buzz Aldrin said the 1969 moon landing was fake during an interview with Conan O’Brien ❌
• You can vote by text ❌

KEEP LEARNING

• From the News Literacy Project:
• For more quick videos to help students learn about journalism, see News Googles
• For more in-depth lessons, see Checkology