Course
How a story becomes news
Work out why some events reach you and others, just as big, never do.
The shape of it
7 lessons
About 25 minutes in total. Your progress is kept on this device — no account, nothing sent anywhere.
Course complete
Put your name on it and print it, or save it as a PDF. Nothing is sent anywhere.
The lessons
Someone has to be there
Predict which events get reported at all, from where reporters already are.
7 steps · about 4 min
The wire moves first
Trace one agency's sentence through a hundred outlets.
7 steps · about 4 min
Access is a currency
Explain why officials are quoted more than the people affected.
7 steps · about 4 min
The clock shapes the story
Predict how a deadline changes what a report can say.
7 steps · about 4 min
A number arrives without its error bars
Spot a figure that has hardened as it travelled.
7 steps · about 4 min
Two sides is a choice
Tell apart a real disagreement and a manufactured balance.
7 steps · about 4 min
Reading the silence
Work out what a day's coverage is not telling you.
7 steps · about 4 min