Academic studies provide the kind of high-quality evidence journalists need to ground their public policy coverage. This 50-minute training session shows reporters, editors and columnists how research articles can be a powerful tool for holding governments and politicians accountable and for fighting disinformation. Denise-Marie Ordway, managing editor of The Journalist’s Resource, at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, led the training, covering such topics as:

• How to tell good studies from questionable ones.
• The best places to find the best research.
• The dos and don’ts of explaining study findings to your audience.
• Tips for applying findings to the specific issue or community you’re covering.
• Where journalists on deadline should look to find the “golden nuggets” in lengthy research articles.

Denise-Marie Ordway joined The Journalist’s Resource in 2015 after reporting for newspapers and radio stations in the U.S. and Central America, including the Orlando Sentinel and Philadelphia Inquirer. She received various national, regional and state-level journalism awards and, in 2013, was named as a Pulitzer Prize finalist for an investigative series she led. Ordway, a 2014-15 Fellow of Harvard’s Nieman Foundation for Journalism, serves on the board of directors to the national Education Writers Association.