On Tuesday, Feb. 15, award-winning journalists Wesley Lowery and Julian Rubinstein engaged in a public conversation about challenges facing the media at Colorado College. The discussion—which covered reporting on law enforcement and Black communities, the struggle to find credible sources, as well as the power and limitations of the press—was co-sponsored by the Estlow Center at the University of Denver. “Battle for Truth: Covering social justice movements from Black Lives Matter to The Holly” addressed the lack of driven journalists who are willing to do whatever it takes to get to the truth.

According to Rubinstein, the number one priority when reporting on law enforcement is to be leery of all sources. Another must is to look for an ethnically diverse group of sources.

“Over the years I could see that the stories I was hearing from the people directly involved [in these situations] were very different from the stories I was hearing from the media,” said Rubinstein. “I have seen, in Denver, high profile sources who were [intentionally] misdirecting things. We need to be more skeptical of our sources,” he added.

Lowery and Rubinstein also addressed the trend of misinformation in the press and the need for reporters who are willing to deeply investigate before sharing what happened.

“Journalists can become so reliant on official sources, in part because they are easier to get. […] It is a lot harder to track down a person that was there and figure out what happened,” said Lowery. “A piece written [solely] on the law enforcement statement [about the George Floyd case] would have misled the readers as to what happened,” he explained.

As to fighting false or inaccurate information on social media, they urged caution before publishing and sharing pieces of news.

“Social media and citizen journalism was a way to democratize [access to information], but now it is also a way to distort everything,” said Rubinstein.

Above all, they made it clear that deeply searching for the truth, no matter the situation, is the main job of a journalist.

“In a world where information is available at our fingertips, it is our job as publishers and as journalists to really figure out the answers to the questions before we hit the [share] button,” said Lowery.