Journalism Associations, Other Groups Offer COVID-19 Reporting Resources

March 27, 2020

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Reporter’s Toolbox: Journalism Associations, Other Groups Offer COVID-19 Reporting Resources

By Joseph A. Davis

Chances are that you will have to write something related to COVID-19, and also that you may be in unfamiliar territory. Help is on the way.

Quite a few outlets and organizations have compiled guides to resources that can aid you. Here’s a collection.

 

Journalism associations

 


Other journalism organizations

  • First Draft. This international nonprofit is a partnership of organizations focused on journalism. It has published “Coronavirus: Resources for reporters,” and will update it.
  • Poynter Institute. A national nonprofit offering all kinds of journalism education, Poynter has published many resources for journalists covering COVID-19.

 

Open information organizations

  • Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. This robust nonprofit devoted to press freedom (and related legal help) has published “Press freedom and government transparency during COVID-19,” which may help you maneuver through the range of access restrictions stemming from the outbreak.
  • Committee to Protect Journalists. This international nonprofit watchdog against threats to press freedom and safety has various COVID-19 resources. Those include an excellent safety advisory for journalists covering the virus.
  • Student Press Law Center. This nonprofit focused on fighting censorship and other support for student journalists has published “Coronavirus toolkit.”

 

International journalism resources

 

Other journalism groups and centers

Joseph A. Davis is a freelance writer/editor in Washington, D.C. who has been writing about the environment since 1976. He writes SEJournal Online's TipSheetReporter's Toolbox and Issue Backgrounder, as well as compiling SEJ's weekday news headlines service EJToday. Davis also directs SEJ's Freedom of Information Project and writes the WatchDog column and WatchDog Alert.


* From the weekly news magazine SEJournal Online, Vol. 5, No. 13. Content from each new issue of SEJournal Online is available to the public via the SEJournal Online main page. Subscribe to the e-newsletter here. And see past issues of the SEJournal archived here.

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