Reporting Skills

A short guide to the arithmetic student reporters actually need: budget lines, attendance estimates, and percentage change.

How student reporters can responsibly cover city council, local business, and community stories that affect students but happen off campus.

Why student papers default to the same handful of easy sources, and a practical system for building a wider, more representative source list.

What an embargo actually is, when student newsrooms encounter them, and how to evaluate whether a source’s embargo request is reasonable.

A comparison of shorthand, structured notebooks, and digital tools for capturing accurate notes under deadline pressure.

A realistic system for logging, transcribing, and pulling usable quotes from interview audio without losing a full evening to it.

A practical approach to translating district budget line items and board agendas into stories students actually read.

How student reporters can deal with a communications office or official spokesperson and still come away with answers a reader can actually use.

How to cover candidates, debates, and results fairly, and avoid the access traps that come with covering people you will interview all year.

An introduction to public records and information requests, what to ask for, and why involving an adviser matters for student reporters.