The number of ways we receive news has multiplied, and it can be difficult to know what's true.  But there are ways to sift through the stories - and the sources - to get closer to a balanced view of what's happening in the world.

"The one thing having many different sources has done, is it gives us lots of different voices, and different points of view, and sometimes points of view that you haven't heard before," award-winning news reporter Bob Smietana told me in this recorded conversation from 2020.  "So that's good.  It just means it's a lot more work for all of us."

I was ready to air my conversation with Bob in March 2020 when Covid interrupted Inside Out and sent me in a new direction when I returned to the office months later.  But now, in 2025, with legacy news agencies losing access to the presidential administration and articles crafted by Artificial Intelligence making it harder to tell the true from the false, it's time to pull the conversation out of the archive.  Bob Smieta, my guest, is a national reporter for Religion News Service as well as a former editor.  His writing has appeared in numerous periodicals including USA Today and The Washington Post.

In our 15 minute podcast, you'll hear Bob's suggestions for how we can vet news sources so that we can learn what's happening in the world.