Housing intersects with nearly every major story journalists cover today—from elections and education to health, climate, business, and public safety. Yet many reporters believe housing is a specialized beat or feel unprepared to cover it responsibly.

This session, led by Princeton’s Eviction Lab, is designed for journalists of all beats and experience levels. Whether you’re a breaking news reporter, investigative journalist, data reporter, audience engagement journalist, or editor, we’ll show why housing deserves your attention—and how to cover it well without necessarily becoming a full-time housing reporter.

In this panel, attendees will learn:

• What’s happening nationally in housing and homelessness, including recent shifts in policy, affordability, and displacement—and how these trends connect to electoral politics and local governance.
• Four to five essential data tools every journalist should know to report on housing, eviction, rent, and homelessness, with a practical introduction to accessible resources and datasets.
• How to find housing stories in any community, including tips for identifying newsworthy angles beyond press releases and official statements.
• Ethical sourcing practices, with guidance on interviewing tenants and unhoused people in ways that minimize harm and avoid stigma.
• Examples of strong housing journalism, highlighting work that has driven accountability, influenced policy, or changed public understanding.
• Attendees will leave with concrete tools, story ideas, and a clearer sense of how housing reporting can strengthen their core beat—no matter what they usually cover.

In this follow-up lesson to Climate Reporting 101, we’ll discuss what data can be used to tell stories about climate change and how you can gather and vet that data.

By attending this lesson, you will also learn:

(1) Where to find data from federal agencies.
(2) Which reports are most helpful for adding context to weather and climate stories.
(3) What local data you might be able to get from your state or municipality.

We recommend viewing Climate Reporting 101 prior to attending this class:

The National Press Club Journalism Institute will host a briefing for national and regional journalists on the debate over a proposed gas tax suspension and what it could mean for consumers, transportation funding, inflation, and state budgets.

As policymakers consider calls to suspend federal and state gas taxes in response to rising fuel prices, reporters have found themselves answering complex questions: Would consumers actually see meaningful savings at the pump? Who ultimately benefits from a gas tax holiday? And what are the tradeoffs for infrastructure funding and long-term transportation policy?

To help unpack the issue, experts from the Bipartisan Policy Center — Andy Winkler and Andrew Lautz — will walk journalists through what’s at stake at both the federal and state levels when it comes to the gas tax holiday proposals.

The briefing will draw on BPC’s recent analysis, including its “Hidden Cost of a Gas Tax Holiday” explainer and interactive Gas Tax Holiday Calculator, which examines how different policy scenarios could affect prices at the pump and transportation revenues.

Attendees will walk away with a better understanding of:
– How federal and state gas taxes work
– The historical track record of gas tax holidays
– Potential impacts on inflation, consumer prices, and infrastructure funding
– Key data points and reporting angles for journalists covering the issue
– This briefing will provide practical information and tools to help journalists break through data and policy points to provide impactful stories for their audiences.

When it comes to a news organization’s legal needs, understanding how to operate safely and sustainably from a business standpoint is just as important as knowing what challenges might arise in the reporting process. This session, led by ProJourn, a program of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, will help newsroom leaders assess and prioritize their organization’s legal needs. Attorneys will guide attendees through a checklist, developed in collaboration with ProJourn partner Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, of key areas to consider legal risk and needs, including:

• Business models and Governance (e.g., 501(c)(3), compliance with IRS requirements, tax-exempt status, incorporation, fiscal sponsorship, and/or hybrid entity formation, news collaboratives and joint ventures);
• Intellectual property, data protection, privacy (e.g., copyright infringement, website terms and conditions, and privacy policies);
• Employment  (e.g., employee handbook; independent journalist contract template);
• Media Liability (e.g., media liability insurance, defamation risks, pre-publication review, and access to records); and
• Safety and Security (e.g., protest safety and reporting, police interaction, digital security).

Participation in this clinic does not constitute acceptance of your matter for representation nor a promise to do so and does not create an attorney-client relationship between you and in-house counsel, the law firm, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press or any other participating law firm and company, their employees, directors or officers.

Please note, slots are limited and will be assigned on a first come first serve basis. If you cancel less than 48 hours before your scheduled Checkup, your organization will be moved to the bottom of the waiting list. 

If you are not yet a ProJourn client,  please fill out our eligibility form here: https://forms.office.com/r/S3qpVvg1Mt