verification #comms239

Group 6 did a great job presenting verification. Verification is SUCH a key to good journalism. With journalism being the fourth estate and all, it is good for the press to be trustworthy and that is what I see verification as--being worthy of trust because you are thorough with your verification. Verification is never releasing a piece of news that you aren't 100% sure is accurate.

My three favorite things about class: 

• The counter argument. Yes it is very, very tempting to want to publish news as soon as you get it. That was a good point made by the group. But we must not do that!! The other temptation we have is to report news just because it's already out there.. But the question I ask myself when I think about that is, Do two wrongs make a right? Definitely not. 
• My second favorite thing was this: Instead of objectivity aim for thoroughness, accuracy, fairness, and transparency. I liked this a lot because objectivity is a such a broad thing. It's hard to just, be objective, with just that one goal. But when you factor in having the goals of thoroughness, accuracy, fairness, and transparency, it narrows things. If you abide by those four things then objectivity comes with it. It reminded me of the gospel, funnily enough. If one thing is true than it is all true. If your reporting is accurate, it's objective. If your reporting is transparent, it is fair, and so on and so forth.
• Lastly I thought it was really great that we learned about the techniques of verification. That was like, the application of all of the things we talked about. It made it seem like class was productive because we ended on how to actually do the things we had just discussed. I think it is so important to edit with skepticism, keep an accuracy checklist, assume nothing, use Tom French's red pencil, and be careful with anonymous sources. Journalism can be a risky business. Journalists will only harm themselves by not verifying their reporting. It is important to use these techniques of verification. Truth in journalism is so important that some people even die for it--I read about that on this blog.

We want our reporting to be as transparent as if we stuck our heads into a window :)

I'd like to end with a quote from Elements of Journalism: "Improving the discipline of verification may be the most important step journalists can take to improve the quality of news and public discussion." I couldn't agree more.