Joe Mathewson '76 on What the Media Should Learn from the Manti Te'o Saga

Excerpted from the Deseret News:

Joe Mathewson, a distinguished professor at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism in Chicago, agreed to talk to the Deseret News about values in the media as they apply to the Te'o case. In a varied and rich career as a working journalist, Mathewson, who has a law degree from the University of Chicago, has covered business news, Capitol Hill and the Supreme Court for the Wall Street Journal and has been a reporter for WBBM-TV in Chicago. He is the author of two books, "Up Against Daley" and the recently released "The Supreme Court and the Press."

DN: Thank you for talking with us. What have you told your journalism students about the lessons to be learned from the Te'o story?

JM: Make sure of your sources. It's that simple. It's an admonition that's summed up nicely in a quotation that hangs on the wall in the offices of the old Chicago city bureau where we hold our downtown classes: If Your Mother Says She Loves You, Check it Out.

Read the rest of the article.