Journalism basics

Journalism basics

Editor’s note: Resources for journalism students and others new to the industry. We’ll be expanding this page in the coming weeks, so check back often.

Associated Collegiate Press
Jobs, contests, articles on trends and more for student publications

Broadcast Education Association
Resources, training and awards for educators and students

Online News Association
Resources for journalists with a digital focus. Includes a do-it-yourself custom ethics code.

Radio TV Digital News Association
Research, training and events for broadcast and digital-first students.

National Press Photographers Association
NPPA code of ethics is an industry standard

Student Press Law Center

Muck Rack for Students
Free access to industry-recognized certifications, research, and professional tools

The Student Newspaper Survival Guide

TrustingNews: Teaching Students to Earn Trust

Division I College Sports FOIA Directory – The Intercollegiate
Public information officers from Division I athletic departments

Dart Center: Resources for Educators Training Journalists Covering Sensitive Issues
Resources from San Diego State professor Amy Schmitz Weiss on teaching students to cover topics such as suicide, homicides, sexual assaults and other traumatic news events.

FOIAonline.gov
One of the largest federal #FOIA portals

National Security Archives

PublicRecords Online Directory
Good first-stop in records searching.

Copy, Paste, Legislate
Track lobbying efforts by pulling documents and parsing text.

The Accountability Project
Curates, standardizes and indexes public data to give journalists, researchers and others a simple way to search across records.

Bellingcat’s Digital Forensics Tools

USA Facts
Hundreds of government-generated data and fact sheets about many issues: crime, business, public safety, etc.

OpenPayrolls – The Largest Nationwide Salary Database

Syracuse University: Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC)

Clery Center for Security on Campus
Campus crime data and compliance information.

US Dept. of Education: Campus Safety and Security
Download nationwide campus crime data.

National Center for Education Statistics Data Center
Nationwide data on colleges and universities.

Chronicle of Higher Education: Tracking Sexual Assault Investigations

TrollBusters: Staying Safe Online and Offline (Student Edition)

Campus Weblines: Journalism Ethics

AP Style Exercises Online


REPORTING RESOURCES

How to Tell Good Research from Bad: 13 Questions Journalists Should Ask
Great tipsheet from Harvard’s Journalist’s Resource.

NY Times: Satellite Images and Shadow Analysis: How The Times Verifies Eyewitness Videos

Inteltechniques.com
Track people down through their Facebook ID.

GIJN Reporting Tips and Tools

The Journalist’s Resource: 3 Tips to Build Rapport with Distrustful Resources

Journalist’s Resource: Diversify Your Sources With This Guide to Nursing Specialty Groups

The Open Notebook: Reporting Without Phone or Internet Access

IJNET: Tips for Journalists Working Outside of Major Cities

IJNET: Nine Remote Interviewing Tips

Dart Center: Reporting on Coronavirus: Handling Sensitive Remote Interviews

Dart Center: Tips for Interviewing Victims of Tragedy, Witnesses, and Survivors

Dart Center: Do Interviewees Fully Understand What They Signed Up For?

Journalism.co.uk: Develop New Interviewing Techniques

The Art of the Confrontational Interview


EDITING AND FACT-CHECKING

Verification Handbook (second edition)
From Craig Silverman, this guide gives you tools to verify digital content for emergency coverage.

Google Fact Check Explorer
Look up fact-checks by topic and reverse image search photos.

Google News Initiative Verification Tools Course

ACES
ACES: The Society for Editing offers editing tips, tools, language quizzes, headline writing exercises and more.

RTDNA: Identifying Juveniles in Stories

Citizen Media Law Project Legal Guide

The Elements of Style

Quillbot Paraphraser

Global Press Style Guide

Conscious Style Guide

CUNY: Fact-Checking, Verification and Fake News Guide

GIJN: How to Spot Deep Fake Videos

ICFJ: A Short Guide to the History of “Fake News” and Disinformation

TinEye
Reverse image search to fact-check images

API: How to Tell If a Photo is Fake

Poynter: Fact-Checking How-to Guides

FactCheck.org

Craig Silverman’s Verification and Digital Investigations Resources

Bellingcat: Beginner’s Guide to Social Media Verification

ScamSearch
Global scam database

NABJ Style Guide