Backgrounding like a boss: Reporting on people and companies with free tools

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    • Background like a bossDownload

    How are you sure that great source with the perfect quote isn’t too good to be true? Even great reporters can get tricked by fake names or sketchy backgrounds. We’ll walk through some websites and strategies you can use to create a routine and spot potential red flags before you get burned.

    More training on Reporting & Writing:

    Google Earth Studio

    Learn how to use Google Earth Studio, Google Earth Pro, Google Earth Timelapse and Earth Measure Tool with training by author and data journalism expert Mike Reilley.

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    • To the Point 101 — Why we’re doing it and what successful TTP looks like

    We know our younger digital readers are seeking scannable, easy-to-digest content. Here’s what it is (and isn’t), how our efforts so far are helping us reach readers with premium and metered content and some successful examples on how newsrooms are putting it to use and making it a priority.

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    • Google tools for journalists

    Google Fact-Check Explorer, Google Public Data Explorer, Google Trends, Google search shortcuts/advanced search), MapChecking for crowd size estimates, PhantomBuster, VisualPing for tracking website updates and other cool tools and hacks.

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    • Microsoft Excel 05 – What if

    The more data you have, the more questions you will have about it, and the more answers it can provide. Excel has a variety of conditional formulas that let you evaluate subsets of your data to find the stories to tell: If…Then formulas; Conditional Functions; XLOOKUP; Array Functions.

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