Need help covering the science behind a local story? Get practical advice from journalists who understand the work. The Open Notebook’s Local Science Reporting Help Desk is a free, peer-supported resource for local and general assignment reporters and editors. Whether you need help finding an expert, making sense of a scientific study, figuring out the science angle in a story, or reporting a complex topic on deadline, you can ask us for help.
In the everyday work of a local reporter, this might look like:
- Adding context about climate change to a TV spot about wildfires or floods in the area
- Interviewing an infectious disease researcher for a story on flu season
- Reporting on the disproportionate impact of pollution in low-income communities
- Covering the psychological effects of school start times at a local school district
Two Ways to Get Help
Join the Community
Most Help Desk questions are answered in our Slack community, where local journalists share questions, sources, ideas, and reporting advice with one another, with additional guidance from experienced science journalists. You don’t need to be a science specialist to participate—in fact, most members of the community are journalists with no particular training or background in science.
Have a Question on Deadline?
You don’t need to join Slack first. Email your question to helpdesk@theopennotebook.com, and we’ll bring it to the Help Desk community and get an answer back to you as quickly as we can.
What the Help Desk Can Help With
We’re here to help journalists on any beat, no matter their background, bring scientific evidence, data, and context into their stories. For example, you might ask for help:
- Finding a scientist or other expert to interview
- Understanding or evaluating a scientific study
- Figuring out what scientific evidence is relevant to a local story
- Identifying a science angle in a story idea
- Reporting accurately on topics such as climate change, public health, pollution, or risk
- Finding data, research, or other sources
- Thinking through how to explain scientific uncertainty or conflicting evidence
In other words, if science is part of a story you’re reporting, you can bring your question to us.
Who It’s For
We welcome reporters and editors—staff or freelance—at local, regional, and general-assignment media outlets. You don’t need a background in science journalism.
This resource is designed for journalists who want to incorporate scientific evidence, data, and perspectives into their reporting. It is not intended for students or for journalists who work primarily for science-specializing outlets.
There is no cost to participate.
How It Works
The Help Desk is a community: Journalists help journalists, with experienced science journalists and The Open Notebook team also contributing guidance.
If you have an ongoing need for advice or want to learn from other local journalists, join us on Slack. If you’re on deadline and just need an answer to a particular question, email us instead—we’ll take it to the community for you.
This program is managed by Sandeep Ravindran, a project manager at The Open Notebook. You can reach him at sandeepravindran@theopennotebook.com.
In addition to the Local Science Reporting Help Desk, The Open Notebook offers many resources to help journalists and editors gain skills and confidence in covering science. These include:
- Our interactive Science Reporting Navigator
- An extensive program of trainings and workshops
- A series of brief, accessible tip sheets on covering science
- Hundreds of in-depth reported articles on the craft of science writing
- A series of free online Master Classes delivered by email
- And more!