7 tips for improving news coverage of private school choice
Seven university professors who study private school choice programs offer journalists advice for strengthening news coverage of this divisive topic.
Tip Sheets
Expert Commentary
How — and why — to create a voter guide to local and state judicial elections
Public elections for judges are often marked by low turnout and low information about the candidates. Find out how and why three newsrooms created guides to help voters understand judicial races — and eight tips to help your newsroom create its own judicial election guide.
Expert Commentary
Covering obesity: 6 tips for dispelling myths and avoiding stigmatizing news coverage
Dozens of academic studies spotlight problems in news coverage of obesity. To help journalists reflect on their work and make improvements, we asked seven experts for advice.
Expert Commentary
How to cover academic research fraud and errors: 4 big takeaways from our webinar
Read on for great tips from Ivan Oransky, Elisabeth Bik and Jodi Cohen, three experts who have covered research misconduct or have hands-on experience monitoring or detecting it.
Expert Commentary
6 story ideas in the 2023 Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change report
Climate reports like the Lancet Countdown are large documents, laden with data, and can be difficult to summarize in one news story. But local journalists can look for specific issues that apply to their communities to produce stories that resonate with their audiences.
Expert Commentary
How do science journalists decide whether a psychology study is worth covering?
A recent study finds that sample size is the only factor having a robust influence on 181 science journalists’ ratings of the trustworthiness and newsworthiness of a study. But they note that, overall, these journalists are doing a ‘very decent job’ vetting research. Here’s how they do it.
Expert Commentary
5 reasons news stories about research need source diversity
Many journalists work hard to include people from different backgrounds in stories about local issues and events, but might not realize source diversity is also important in stories about science and research. Here are five reasons why.
Expert Commentary
‘Horse race’ coverage of elections: What to avoid and how to get it right
It’s unlikely journalists will stop covering elections as a competitive game, despite researchers’ warnings that it can harm voters and others. Two scholars offer ideas for at least improving so-called ‘horse race’ reporting.
Expert Commentary
5 tips to help you cover the college mental health crisis
Mental health experts Gino Aisenberg, co-director of the Latino Center for Health at the University of Washington, and Tony Walker, senior vice president of academic programs at The Jed Foundation, share advice to help journalists improve their coverage of college mental health.
Expert Commentary
Corporal punishment in schools: Research and reporting tips to guide your coverage
Two scholars offer guidance on covering school corporal punishment, which can result in serious injuries and has, for years, been used disproportionately on Black students and children with disabilities.
Expert Commentary