Matthew Phillips, Author at The Journalist's Resource

Using Python to scrape a website and gather data: Practicing on a criminal justice dataset

by Matthew Phillips and John Wihbey | July 9, 2015

Tutorial on how to use the programming language Python to scrape website data from a local county prison roster. The exercise highlights website source code and data structures.

Editors’ Picks

Economics, Politics & Government

The national debt: How and why the US government borrows money

June 25, 2025

The US government is paying $1 trillion a year in interest on its debt. With interest costs outpacing national defense spending, this piece will help journalists understand the public debt and explain it to audiences.

Economics, Health, Politics & Government

As Congress considers cuts to SNAP, we address 8 questions about this US federal nutrition program

May 30, 2025

Here’s important background info and research to bolster news coverage of potential reductions in federal spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Health, Politics & Government

ICE and hospitals: What does the removal of the ‘protected areas’ policy mean for hospitals?

May 21, 2025

Medical and legal experts have issued detailed guidelines on responding to the removal of a policy that protected health care facilities from immigration enforcement activities. The information helps journalists to report on their local hospitals and empower patients to know their rights.