Bystander video is driving the biggest stories in America. The next era of journalism will be built on verifying it.

From the Minneapolis shootings to the Guthrie kidnapping, visual investigation skills are now mandatory. Here’s how to do it.

Bystander and surveillance videos keep driving major news stories.

The killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers in Minneapolis. Brutal takedowns of lawful citizens and aggressive clashes by Immigration and Customs Enforcement across the U.S. The detention of Tufts University doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk, snatched off a street by agents. And the latest: A chilling video of a masked, armed suspect in the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie caught on a doorbell camera.

Video has become one of the most powerful forms of evidence in modern journalism. At the exact same moment, AI is making that evidence easier to fake and easier to manipulate. The result is a new reality: Journalists must become visual investigators.