Jean-Claude Torchia 
The other day, I wrote a little piece following the passing of one of Canada’s great journalists, Lloyd Robertson.
It got me thinking.
Not just about Lloyd and his remarkable career, but about what he represented — and how much the world of news and information has changed since those days.
I grew up watching journalists like Lloyd Robertson and Walter Cronkite deliver the news. They told you what happened. They provided the facts and the context. And, importantly, they respected the audience enough to let you make up your own mind.
Today, most people don’t necessarily get their news that way.
Increasingly, we get information through social media, influencers, podcasts, commentators, algorithms, and countless other sources. Some are excellent. Some are not. And many of us have people we particularly like and follow because we trust their perspective.
That’s perfectly fine.
But perhaps we should challenge them, too.
In fact, we should challenge everyone.
Even the media organizations that adhere to the highest journalistic standards.
Because journalists are human beings. Editors are human beings. Influencers are human beings. We all make mistakes.
The fact that someone has earned our trust doesn’t mean everything they say is automatically correct.
And here’s the uncomfortable truth:
Not everything we see, read or hear is necessarily true.
That doesn’t mean everything is false. It simply means we need to become much better at verifying what we’re being told.
Where did the information come from?
What are the sources?
Is it supported by facts?
Can it be independently confirmed?
Are we being given the news — or someone’s interpretation of the news?
And perhaps most importantly, are we forming our own opinions, or simply adopting someone else’s?
That’s why the old expression “trust but verify” has never been more relevant.
I’d take it one step further:
Don’t automatically trust. Verify first.
We live in an age where information can travel around the world in seconds. A statement can be repeated thousands of times before anyone stops to ask whether it is actually accurate.
And once something is accepted as fact, correcting it can be remarkably difficult.
For businesses and brands, this matters enormously.
Trust can take years to build and only moments to damage. Communications shouldn’t simply be about getting attention or winning an argument. They should be about providing information that is accurate, credible, and defensible.
Perhaps that’s one of the lessons we can take from journalists like Lloyd Robertson and Walter Cronkite.
Give people the facts. Give them context. Tell them what you know — and what you don’t know. And then let them think.
Good communications should do the same.
It shouldn’t tell people what to think.
It should give them credible information and respect their intelligence enough to let them make up their own minds.
In a world where we’re processing more information than ever before, perhaps the most important skill we can develop isn’t simply knowing who to trust.
It’s knowing when to pause, question and verify.
Because trust is important.
But verification is essential.
And sometimes, before we trust, we need to verify.
