Crunch Time: Verify Your Facts

It's that time. The clock is ticking and the newscast is creeping upon you, but you still haven't verified your facts with the official source. The competition already has information online, but they beat you to the scene and got the story confirmed. You arrived with one sheriff left to say, "Sorry. I've been told not to talk about what happened to the media for now...I think one of our guys talked to KMIZ [the ABC station] before he was told not to." Great.

We heard on the scanner a possible robbery. Our desk and I made some phone calls but no response. At five o'clock, the competition has a live reporter on the scene with basic information about a woman robbed and taken to an ATM. It happened on Demaret Drive. "Olivia, that's by the Lake of the Woods area...St. Charles Road." They send me on a goose hunt with another reporter to see if we can catch up on the story. I've got to get this figured out for the nine and ten newscasts...not to mention on the web asap!

After a failed conversation with the sheriff, I start knocking on doors. Sure enough, one neighbor heard something and knew a general idea of what might've happened. He was sitting on his front porch and heard two men yell, "Get down! get down!" He said it sounded like it was coming from the backyard of the house nextdoor. Then, he said a woman screamed and it stopped.

(Photo Courtesty: massachusettscriminaldefenseattorneyblog.com)

I knew KMIZ reported there was something about these men taking the woman to an ATM and demanding money. I had nothing confirmed from the Boone County Sheriff's Department.

I got some video of the street and houses he described where it might have happened and left unaware of where this supposed.ATM was. I got a call around 7 p.m. from the Sheriff's PIO, but he said he couldn't tell me anything until they got more details on what happened. He claimed they'd send a press release before the 9 p.m. news.

I pulled into KOMU stuck with a neighbor's testimony and the competition's report. The number one thing I've learned at the Missouri J-School is always check your facts and never report anything without doing so. Of course, that press release didn't come as anticipated. As the clock neared nine, I made another phone call to the Sheriff's PIO. I explained what I needed: just a confirmation that a robbery occured and essentially, what KMIZ reported. He finally realized I wasn't asking for specific details he couldn't confirm himself.

Here's what I reported: Two men asked a woman to meet them at Demaret Drive for a 'purchase'. They pulled out a gun on her and demanded she go to the nearest ATM and give them money. She got there and couldn't take out money. They sped off with her car.

Robbery turned kidnapping turned carjacking. If I hadn't verified that information, I would not have been comfortable claiming what I heard from a neighbor and saw on KMIZ's website.