Describe what you do in five words or less:

Try to explain the world.
​
​

​

What makes a ‘trusted’ source?

A traditional trusted source is an academic, legal expert, or in some way an expert on a subject. In the work I do, a trusted source is someone with lengthy experience of a phenomenon. This could be a migrant worker, a refugee, or someone with direct experience of the events or ideas I’m trying to explain.





How do you fact check information?

I‘ll double check with other experts in the industry or with editors and journalists who are familiar with the subject.

You dig and dig, asking questions about the validity of something being asserted, until you find the original source or how a number or idea came to be.

If a statistic is being relied on by someone, ask for their source or how it came to be.





Free press means ________________

A responsible news organization free from government and corporate interference to tell the public the truth.





Why should we go beyond headlines?

It's like concluding to know the plot line of a movie by looking at a movie poster. The poster tells you who’s in the movie and what’s interesting about it, but there are thoughts and characters that a poster just can’t reveal.

We owe it to ourselves to find out the rest of the story because there’s more information waiting for us.



​

Tips for spotting fake news?

If it comes from a source you don’t know and it sounds shocking, be careful. There are tools journalists use, but one thing I do as a quick gut check is put the world “apparently” in front of a headline – if that makes the story sound outlandish, I‘ll do the research to double check.



​

What's your favourite verb?
​
To search

Reading headlines is like concluding to know the plot line of a movie by looking at a movie poster. We owe it to ourselves to find out the rest of the story because there’s more information waiting for us.

​–Vicky Mochama
proactivecitizen.org