The Journalist's Resource

The Journalist's Resource The Journalist’s Resource is a project of Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy.

We examine news topics through a research lens. Our mission is to inform the news by bridging the communications gap between academia and journalism. Our goal: to get more high-quality research into the media stream.

In this 2023 piece, we summarize studies on where PFAS are found, health impacts, the efficacy of consumer water filters...
09/09/2025

In this 2023 piece, we summarize studies on where PFAS are found, health impacts, the efficacy of consumer water filters, new methods of destroying PFAS, and racial disparities in PFAS exposure.

We summarize studies on health impacts, the efficacy of consumer water filters, racial disparities in PFAS exposure, and more.

From the Federal Reserve to the Bureau of Economic Analysis to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are a variety of fr...
09/08/2025

From the Federal Reserve to the Bureau of Economic Analysis to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are a variety of free federal sources journalists can turn to for high-quality data on the U.S. economy.

While these will be most relevant to business reporters, economic issues cut across beats, so journalists covering almost any topic may find these useful. Most data featured here is macroeconomic, meaning it indicates the health of the national economy, or segments of it.

Below, we spotlight 8 data sources reporters should know and use, including several Federal Reserve regional banks. Many sources offer much more information than can be covered here, so think of this tip sheet as a starting point. We’ll update this list periodically, so be sure to bookmark it and share it with your colleagues. And feel free to reach out if there’s anything you think should be added.

This article was published in January 2025.

We spotlight 8 free data sources journalists can use to report on economic issues ranging from GDP and inflation to economic inequality.

In this piece, published in August 2024, we asked health and communication researchers for advice to help journalists co...
09/05/2025

In this piece, published in August 2024, we asked health and communication researchers for advice to help journalists cover school vaccination requirements in the U.S. amid a rise in measles cases and a push by some lawmakers to let more unvaccinated students enroll.

We asked health and communication researchers for advice to help journalists cover school vaccination requirements in the U.S. amid a rise in measles cases and a push by some lawmakers to let more unvaccinated students enroll.

When states take on debt, it’s usually for large infrastructure projects that may benefit multiple generations — for exa...
09/04/2025

When states take on debt, it’s usually for large infrastructure projects that may benefit multiple generations — for example, replacing bridges, building hospitals, or expanding highways and transit systems.

“Unlike the federal government, states generally limit the use of debt to support capital projects, not operating expenditures,” says Kathryn Vesey White, director of budget process studies at the National Association of State Budget Officers and co-author of a recent paper on federal and state fiscal processes.

News reporters are often assigned to cover big capital projects, and that includes understanding the debt that funds those projects. While interest rates on state debt are low overall, if those rates rose that could lead to tough choices for state leaders, including potentially scaling back or scraping capital investments.

While state debt is less of a pressing concern for economists and policymakers than federal debt, there are a few ways state debt could rise in the years to come, including economic recessions and risks from climate change. That’s why it’s important journalists be prepared with a working knowledge of how and why states take on debt.

Keep reading to learn:

Learn the types of public projects that states fund by issuing debt and download an exclusive state-by-state debt database.

In this piece, published in August 2024, we examine research to help journalists report on strategies to increase childh...
09/03/2025

In this piece, published in August 2024, we examine research to help journalists report on strategies to increase childhood vaccinations as the political divide in Americans' attitudes toward vaccines widens.

Routine childhood vaccinations fell amid COVID-19. Academic research spotlights ways schools can help boost those numbers.

Private equity firms have been buying stakes in physician practices for the past decade, but what happens to doctors and...
09/02/2025

Private equity firms have been buying stakes in physician practices for the past decade, but what happens to doctors and their patients when investors cash out and move on?

Research by Harvard Business School Professor Leemore Dafny and co-authors suggests that PE’s growing presence in health care is driving higher physician turnover and consolidation. The study finds that physicians were likelier to leave their practices after PE investors exited, and those leaving were likelier to join larger practices— creating a ripple effect of talent consolidation and, as prior research shows, higher costs.

“Sale of Private Equity–Owned Physician Practices and Physician Turnover” is among the first to explore what happens in doctors’ offices once PE investors decide to take their gains, says Dafny, the Bruce V. Rauner Professor of Business Administration at HBS and Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School.

Private equity firms that buy health care practices tend to exit quickly. What happens to doctors and patients when investors cash out?

Originally published in June 2024, this piece aims to help inform the narrative on medication abortion with scientific e...
08/28/2025

Originally published in June 2024, this piece aims to help inform the narrative on medication abortion with scientific evidence.

This piece explains what medication abortion is and lists overwhelming evidence that shows mifepristone and misoprostol's safety.

There is limited peer-reviewed research on how moving to a four-day school week affects students. The research to date f...
08/27/2025

There is limited peer-reviewed research on how moving to a four-day school week affects students. The research to date focuses on students in specific grade levels in a single state or small group of states, namely Oregon, Oklahoma and Colorado. Schools in rural areas have been studied more rigorously than suburban schools.

But the studies conducted thus far generally find that adopting a four-day school schedule lowers student achievement, notes Paul N. Thompson, an assistant professor of economics at Oregon State University. He stresses the importance of teachers spending as much time teaching students during a four-day schedule as they did when students came to class five days a week.

“Most of the evidence finds that the four-day school week reduces student achievement mostly due to reductions in the amount of time students are in school,” Thompson wrote in an email to The Journalist’s Resource on Aug. 26. “For schools that maintain adequate levels of instructional time close to what they were under the five-day school week, there is often no change in achievement, but we see noticeable declines for four-day school weeks with very low levels of time in school. Thus, implementation design of the four-day school week matters considerably for achievement outcomes.”

To help recruit teachers, many U.S. school districts have adopted a four-day school week. Research shows there are consequences for students.

Medicaid eligibility is mainly based on income. Work requirements, also known as “community engagement” requirements, ad...
08/26/2025

Medicaid eligibility is mainly based on income. Work requirements, also known as “community engagement” requirements, add new criteria for eligibility: To qualify for Medicaid, low-income adults ages 18 to 64 also have to be working, volunteering or engaging in educational activities for 20 hours a week or 80 hours a month.

Thirteen states proposed and received approval for work requirement programs through Section 1115 waivers between 2017 and 2021, although most were never implemented. Only Arkansas and Georgia implemented the program. The Biden administration rescinded approved proposals in 2021, and some states withdrew them, except for Georgia, which is the only state that still has work requirements in place, according to KFF.

A 2023 report by the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the federal government would save $100 billion over a decade with a federal Medicaid work requirement.

But research shows that in the real world, work requirements have large administrative costs and create more barriers for low-income adults to maintain their Medicaid coverage. In addition, most people covered by Medicaid are already working, studies find. (This article was published in April 2025.)

Congressional Republicans are looking to cut hundreds of billions of dollars in spending, which could impact Medicaid.

Little known by the public, the USPSTF plays an important role in U.S. primary care and health insurance coverage, evalu...
08/25/2025

Little known by the public, the USPSTF plays an important role in U.S. primary care and health insurance coverage, evaluating a broad body of scientific research to make evidence-based recommendations about ways to prevent disease and prolong life. Under a provision in the Affordable Care Act, health insurers are required to cover the full cost of services that are highly recommended by the USPSTF.

The USPSTF is made up of 16 volunteer members drawn from several disciplines of medicine, including primary care, behavioral health, geriatrics, internal medicine, nursing, obstetrics and gynecology, preventive medicine, and pediatrics. Members, who are appointed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, traditionally serve staggered four-year terms so that more experienced members can train newer ones.

Many physicians value and strongly support the work of the USPSTF, even in cases where they question a particular recommendation — such as when it raised the recommended age for when mammogram screenings should start.

Though little known to the public, the USPSTF plays a key role in determining which preventive services insurers must cover without a co-pay.

The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics regularly publishes a suite of reports and datasets that businesses, journalists,...
08/22/2025

The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics regularly publishes a suite of reports and datasets that businesses, journalists, government agencies and the public use to understand the health of the U.S. economy. The monthly Employment Situation — sometimes called the jobs report — is one of the most widely covered.

Specifically, reporters widely cover the preliminary estimates of job gains or losses across the economy, which BLS publishes on the first Friday of each month. They’re a quick-hit indicator of whether and how the economy is growing. But less coverage goes to the revisions that follow those preliminary estimates, which are also released with each jobs report.

We explain why it's not unusual for preliminary and final employment number reports to differ substantially.

How much have you learned about the topics we've covered recently? Take this week's reader quiz and find out!
08/21/2025

How much have you learned about the topics we've covered recently? Take this week's reader quiz and find out!

This week's reader quiz focuses on tip sheets and explainers published on The Journalist's Resource website between Aug. 6 and Aug. 14, 2025.

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