Due to the rise of social media, user-generated content has become one of the
main sources for TV news materials yet it is difficult to verify their authenticity;
the main purpose of this study is to understand the course of verifying online
materials conducted by TV journalists. Based on in-depth interviews, this study
found that TV journalists begin evaluating the credibility of these material by the
online material provider’s attitude, tone of statement, and the level of detail of that
specific event; TV journalist will then proceed to verifying the online materials in
five ways: interviewing the implicated party, interviewing the related party of the
dispute, interviewing the official unit and authoritative experts, return to the site
and conduct on site interviews, and compare information with people in the same
trade. In addition, social media have also become a new tool for verification.