Sources: what they are and

how to know if you can trust

them
JRNL 222B - Computer Assisted Reporting
Welcome! Happy Thursday.
We’ll start at 9:15 a.m. EST (in approx 15 mins) today, so feel free to
grab a snack, coffee, water (hydration is important!). While you’re doing
so, please think about how you would define a “source” and what you
think makes one trustworthy.

Any questions? Feel free to drop them in the chat.

See you all soon.

Land Acknowledgement

Humber College is located within the traditional and treaty lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit.
Known as Adoobiigok, the “Place of the Black Alders” in Michi Saagiig language, the region is uniquely
situated along Humber River Watershed, which historically provided an integral connection for
Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Wendat peoples between the Ontario Lakeshore and Lake
Simcoe/Georgian Bay regions. Now home to people of numerous nations, Adoobiigok continues to
provide a vital source of interconnection for all.

For more information, visit www.humber.ca/aboriginal/

Agenda:
● Admin
● Review
● What are sources?
● Identify the sources - CBC Marketplace and
Ticketmaster
● How do we know if a source is trustworthy?
● Class activity
● News Diet Analysis
Admin

Data Driven Conference Reflection:

Hope you all got to enjoy some of the Data Driven conference last week. For
anyone who wasn’t able to make it, I’m told the videos are supposed to be
published soon. I hope to get an update by the end of the day today.

In the meantime, I took away the deadline entirely, and we’ll revisit it once the
videos are uploaded.
Admin

Office Hours:

I updated my Office Hours for the semester and the link to book time is on Blackboard.

Anonymous communication link:

I also created a Google Form to give you the ability to communicate with me
anonymously.
Upcoming Conferences

Computation + Journalism Symposium: Data Journalism in an Expanded Field

Hosted by Northeastern University and the Brown Institute for Media Innovation

Friday. Feb. 19, 2021 and is free to register.

More information on the speakers: https://cj2021.northeastern.edu/program/

Upcoming Conferences

NICAR 2021

Annual data journalism conference hosted by the Investigative Reporters and

Editors Association.

March 3-5, 2021.

Registration is required and it costs US$50, plus US$25 to become a member

of the association.

https://www.ire.org/training/conferences/nicar-2021/
 Review: Daily versus Investigative news

Daily: Investigative:

● Quick turnaround ● Longer turnaround (anywhere from days,

● Typically coverage of an event that’s weeks, months, even years)
happening ● Typically looks into systemic issues or
● Think: single car accident coverage information that is not easily accessible
● Often have a strong social justice element
● Think: systemic trends in car accidents,
unknown amount of lead in water
Investigative Reporting in Canada
“Investigative work is in-depth; it required more time and intellectual energy than daily
reportage...Investigative work uncovers patterns, not simply isolated incidents. It gets the facts straight,
but goes beyond them to explicate the context and gain insight into the larger whole.”
Sources: What are they and how
do we know we can trust them?
What do we mean when we talk about
“sources” in journalism?
List the Sources
As we watch this CBC Marketplace
investigation, see if you can identify all
the sources the reporters used.

Think about both human sources and

any documents they reference.

We’ll discuss as a class afterward.

What sources did you identify?
Human Sources:
● Ken: former ticket scalper
● Joe: CEO LiveNation (parent company of
Ticketmaster)
● Yasir: former Attorney General
● Eric & Rafi: current ticket brokers
● Box office worker
● Member of public who are involved in
story
● Don: Ticker broker in Vegas
Documents, website,
● Nathan: former CEO of Ticketmaster
● Data from Ticketmaster and StubHub
ticket prices
● Ticketmaster’s website
● StubHub website
● Seatgeek website
● Legislation about Ticket Sales in Ontario
How do you know you can trust a source?
 Themes to think about when assessing
credibility

Currency: How current the information is

Authority: The reputation of the author(s)

Accuracy: If the information is accurate and can be verified from other sources

Objectivity: The perspective of the authors

Coverage: If the information can be put in context

Sources: Information Literacy, Linkedin Learning | Who Can You Trust? Crash Course Navigating Digital Information #4, Crash Course |Check Yourself with Lateral Reading: Crash Course
Navigating Digital Information #3, Crash Course | Guidelines for Evaluating Sources, by The Radio Television Digital News Foundation (RTDNF) | A Guide for Evaluating Sources, The Poynter
Institute
Most important lesson from today:

Think about assessing credibility as a mindset, more than a set of tools.

Just because a source has a certain perspective, for example, doesn’t mean we
don’t use it. We need to be critical about how we use it and how we
communicate to readers the information they need to know.

We’ll go through a couple ways to thinking about assessing credibility, but it is

by no means exhaustive. Checking credibility often depends on the type of
source, so there’s not a one-size-fits-all solution.
Assessing credibility: Context is important

For journalism, we always have to consider the context in which we’re using the
information:

How are we using it?

Why are we using it?

What was the process to get the information?

Example: coal miner, energy executive, policy maker

Crash Course:
Deciding Who to
Trust
Be prepared: This video moves fast!

While watching, please keep these

questions in mind:

- What was the most important

lesson you learned from this
video?
- What surprised you the most?
- What do you want to learn more
about?
Some ideas for how to assess credibility:
Online sources/documentation
● Lateral reading
● Whois.net/ownership
● About section of website
● Spelling/grammar errors
● Social media accounts/followers
● Can you verify the information anywhere
else?
People
● Social media accounts
● Photo search
● Publishing history (editorials, etc.)
● News history (have they been in the news
before?)
● Professional certifications
● Funding history (professors)
● Board memberships
Case Study
The Buffalo Chronicle.

Can we trust it?

In Groups:

Each breakout group will get an example of a potential source.

For your source:

- What questions come to mind about the source?

- Would you use it?
- If yes, how? If no, why not?

*Make sure to go to the page that matches your group number


Group 1
A person who witnessed a major fire
last year, said it took fire services more
than half an hour to get to the scene of
a fire.
● Ask proximity to the scene
● Was the fire in a familiar area
● Were there people inside or near the location where the fire
took place
● How long was the person on site to know how long it took
the fire department to respond
● This source could be used as a source to an extent. There
would have to be some type of proof (photo,video,other
witnesses, etc.)
● The reason this source may not be credible is because they
could have been in shock or overwhelmed so their sense of
time or accuracy could be off (non intentional)
● Was there media present
● Because the fire happened a year ago, what is the relevance
of this story to date
●
 Questions we would ask
1. What is your rank/title in the military (qualification)
2. What area of the military were you based in? (Air Force,
Group 2 Marines, Army)
3. How long have you been in the military?
4. What sort of training did you have to do to become a
This soldier: soldier?
5. Where have you been stationed?
6. What made you want to join the military?
7. What are your medals and badges for?
8. How did you acquire all your medals and badges?
9. Which country are you from?

Would we use this source?

● On a military matters, but depends on his experience.
● Depends on the area he served, where he’s from.

Group 3
This Wikipedia article about the
Athabasca Oil Sands
Questions We Considered
- Is it credible?
- Where did they get their sources from?
- Is there a specific perspective linked to this source?
- Who are the authors? Are they listed?
Would We Use It?
- We would consider using it, only in the instance the
reference or source they pulled it from is credible.
- Wikipedia itself is unreliable because of its ability to allow
anyone to edit or post on the page as they please.
- We’re more inclined to use the references to fact-check the
information posted on Wikipedia.
- Wikipedia isn’t a great primary source, perhaps it can be
used as a secondary or tertiary method of fact-checking and
reference checking.
 - WWF.ca
- Credibility, when looking at the domain name

Group 4 - How long has this org. been around for?

This report on species at risk from
WWF.
- Where do they get their research and stats for species at
risk?
- Are there any other partnerships WWF?
- Which other editors or writers were chosen to work with
WWF?
- Where are they located, proximity?
Are they affiliated with other organisation?
How old or new is the information?

Looking at the website we noticed, Indigenous-led

partnerships - to verify

“On the West Coast, we’ve successfully assisted Katzie

First Nation in restoring a damaged Chinook salmon
spawning habitat in the Upper Pitt River’s Blue Creek”
-WWF.CA
 Themes to think about when assessing
credibility

Currency: How current the information is

Authority: The reputation of the author(s)

Accuracy: If the information is accurate and can be verified from other sources

Objectivity: The perspective of the authors

Coverage: If the information can be put in context

Sources: Information Literacy, Linkedin Learning | Who Can You Trust? Crash Course Navigating Digital Information #4, Crash Course |Check Yourself with Lateral Reading: Crash Course
Navigating Digital Information #3, Crash Course | Guidelines for Evaluating Sources, by The Radio Television Digital News Foundation (RTDNF) | A Guide for Evaluating Sources, The Poynter
Institute
NEXT WEEK:
- Public documents and research strategies

HOMEWORK:
- News Diet Challenge (Under Reflections
section in Blackboard)
What’s keeping you going this
week?