Q&A: Reporter Ken Armstrong Talks Netflix’s ‘Unbelievable’

Highlighted in our Best of 2015 list, Ken Armstrong and T. Christian Miller’s ProPublica and The Marshall Project piece, “An Unbelievable Story of Rape,” was adapted into a Netflix series this year, debuting to critical acclaim last month and renewing the conversation around its vital subject. The young woman in the story, referred to as Marie, reported being raped and then was charged with making a false confession after being pressured to recant. The eight-episode show, visceral in its visual retelling of the story,  details the eighteen-year-old Washington resident’s life through every infuriating step of the investigation while also showing how her attacker was eventually caught. 

This week, Armstrong talked about how he initially found the story, the work that went in before he asked his first question, and how the international hit has helped share three critical lessons that emerged during the reporting process.