The simple but frustrating truth is that facts alone are not enough to convince people. Even the most thorough, accurate piece of reporting might still be trumped by a poorly reasoned and false counterargument. Therefore, it's crucial to understand how to publish persuasive factual journalism.
Poynter's coffee break course, 6 ways to spread facts, offers tips for using facts to persuade.
Check out the link here.
A growing number of research organizations are not only placing their data online, but giving users free tools to help visualize it.
This overview of a few of these resources focuses especially on economic and development indicators.
Check out the Tip Sheet at https://journalistsresource.org/tip-sheets/research/tools-visualize-eco….
Two-minute selections from some Poynter News University online courses are offered on www.poynter.org as coffee break classes. More than an an overview of the full course (courses for which tuition is charged) the shorts offer some good material and suggestions.
If you are covering the social determinants of health care, chances are you will need some data on areas such as income and gender that can influence health. One place to find everything from the number of doctors in a particular part of the country to demographic information on veterans is the U.S. Census Bureau. This federal agency culls data not only from the U.S. Census taken every 10 years but also from a host of other more frequent surveys.
If plastic bag bans are a hot topic in your community, Journalist's Resource offers a review of current research and provides some resources for background material in stories.
http://journalistsresource.org/studies/environment/pollution-environmen…
So you’re on deadline with breaking news about a crime committed in your community but officials are releasing only basic details: a few facts about the crime and the name and birth date of a person alleged to be involved.
The staff at Journalist’s Resource has compiled a list of steps they have used to track down large amounts of information on deadline. While this list may come in handy when covering crime, the strategies also can be used for gathering information on individuals in many other scenarios.