When Finding the News Becomes Part of the Story
As Truth in Focus has grown into more of a local news and public-service operation, I have learned something very quickly: sometimes the hardest part of reporting the news is simply figuring out where the official information is.
That has become especially obvious while I have been trying to follow recent Northern Cheyenne government developments. There may be a court document in one place, a public notice somewhere else, a letter circulating on Facebook, another document forwarded to us, and then a meeting or hearing date changes. As someone trying to explain what is happening, I sometimes find myself asking the same question everybody else is asking: What exactly is happening?
I don’t want Truth in Focus to guess. I don’t want to tell readers that something happened merely because somebody said it happened. I want to know where the agenda is, where the minutes are, what the actual document says, who issued it, when something changed, and who can confirm it.
That means we are going to keep asking.
When we have email addresses for officials or organizations, we will contact them. When something does not make sense, we will follow up. When information is confirmed, we will tell you what we know. When something is still developing or cannot yet be independently verified, we will tell you that too.
But I also need the community’s help.
Truth in Focus cannot be everywhere, especially while this is still a very small operation. If you see something happening in Ashland, Lame Deer, Busby, Forsyth, Colstrip, Broadus, Rosebud County or elsewhere in our coverage area, send it to us. News tips, public notices, photographs, meeting information, road problems, community events and public documents can all be submitted through the Contact page at truthfocus.net.
If you send something, please tell us where and when it happened and how you know about it. We will work to verify information before presenting it as fact.
The goal isn’t to be first just for the sake of being first.
The goal is to help people understand what is actually happening.
— Steven Bullcoming Haworth
Steve’s Corner | Truth in Focus