By Mike DeWitt

As a documentary producer, understanding the nature of "truth" is more than just an interesting philosophical pursuit. It is a professional imperative. So, given the opportunity to spend a few days with a veteran investigative journalist, I wanted to know his thoughts on the subject. Danny Zwerdling mocks the typical news report where one side of the story is presented, then another, leaving viewers to decide which they believe correct. That is not objective reporting, he told me. Reporting is about getting at the truth. Once you know the two opposing viewpoints, that is when you start digging, compiling as much evidence as you can to determine where the truth lies. And Danny Zwerdling digs. For him, every fact must be corroborated. (If a witness claims it was a hot day, he checks with the National Weather Service.)

Ultimately, the truth may lie on one side of the equation or the other, somewhere in between, or somewhere else entirely. But the thing Zwerdling said which haunts me the most was: we may never actually find the truth. We may never encounter the smoking gun, the document that spells everything out, or the unimpeachable source who clears everything up. What we can do is approach the truth by compiling enough research and interviews and weather reports that we are pretty sure we know what happened.

It is unsettling to think that we may never know the truth about important issues with 100% certainty. It would be more unsettling still if there weren't people like Danny Zwerdling out there trying.

Find out more about DeWitt and the other documentaries he has produced for EXPOSÉ here.