From staff writer Emily Belz: Sometimes when you start reporting a story, the reporting takes you down a very different path than you expect. Last year we noticed a movie that was topping the box office and popular with Christian audiences: Sound of Freedom. We decided to report a story from people fighting trafficking about how the movie depicted their work. 

But soon I was reporting on the allegations that the hero depicted in the movie, Tim Ballard, had himself committed sexual assault against multiple women. Then fast-forward to today, and some of the anti-trafficking experts I interviewed for the story on Sound of Freedom were sources for our story about the nomination of former congressman Matt Gaetz to be attorney general. 

Gaetz would be the top law enforcement officer in the US who fights trafficking, but is himself accused of engaging in sex trafficking. I certainly didn’t expect that reporting on a Jim Caviezel movie would help prepare me to report on a cabinet nomination, and I’m certain my sources weren’t anticipating that either.