TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN 9) — It's National News Literacy Week and we are diving into how you can get reliable information in the ever-changing media landscape.
KGUN 9's Denelle Veselik looks at what our reporters do daily to make sure we give you the news you can trust.
Denelle: I'm here driving with Reyna Preciado, our south-side reporter and she is giving me some insight and you some insight into her day-to-day, and what it looks like; how she chooses a story, how she gets a source, how she gets an interview and some of the ethical decisions she makes. So let's have a conversation.
Reyna is on her way to meet a woman named Michelle, who has been homeless three times since the pandemic. Since we get a ton of emails and people wanting to be on TV, I asked Reyna, what made her decide to interview Michelle?
Reyna: Yeah, well, I thought she was really insightful in, you know, telling me her journey. What recently motivated her to want to tell her story, was a study that was asking people about being homeless, and if they would have done anything differently. And because of that, she decided that she wanted to speak on that.
I watched Reyna's story that aired days later and wanted to show you what I believe to be one of the most powerful moments she had during her conversation with the homeless woman.
Reyna: What do you think would have prevented you from ending up where you are today?
Michelle: I think in order to not be in the situation that I'm in today, is if I was diligent with when I got into the programs that I got into.
Denelle: So Reyna, you know, when you interview vulnerable people, like people that are homeless, is there anything that you do to also kind of protect them as the interviewee?
Reyna: Yeah. So there are certain pieces of information that she's already told me that I don't want to bring up or say that she's told me about, and that confidentiality is important, especially for people who are on the streets and who, you know, could potentially be in a dangerous situation.
After her interview, I caught up with Reyna in an edit bay to dive into how she puts together her story.
Denelle: How do you decide what quotes to use and to make sure you are telling their story accurately, of how they want to project themselves because you know, you only have a certain amount of time?
Reyna: Well, that's why we get everything on camera. So making sure that everything that we're going to be talking about is what she said, and finding the pieces of information that are essential to the story and building around that based on truth. Because that's the foundation of the story.
And the foundation of journalism. For a look at the story Reyna Preciado did with Michelle, click here.
