Less is more
Don’t tackle everything. It’s too overwhelming for readers.
Instead, focus on smaller stories that will show how parts of the plan will directly impact things the people on your beat care about.
Story Idea:
Project 2025 calls for the shuttering of the EPA, which would end important environmental protections on lakes, seaside communities, and other natural treasures people on your beat cherish.
How does the EPA protect those treasures, now? How vulnerable will they be without that assistance? Focus on their future without federal protection.
Keep it local
A lot of readers have limited interest in what’s happening in far-away Washington. So, focus on the impact at home.
Story Idea:
Project 2025 calls for the end federal funding for local transit projects. What kind of loss would that mean for transportation on your beat? Write about that, with a focus on how it would impact real people.
Prioritize clarity
Project 2025 is a massive plan. But reading about it can be boring. Use charts, graphs, and other visuals whenever you can. This can help you convey the enormity of it, without getting bogged down in reams of pros.
Focus on the hurt
Project 2025 is a cruel plan. It guts government programs designed to help the neediest among us, but also the struggling middle class, endangered animals, and the sick.
Write personal stories that lay out how already vulnerable members of your community will be impacted by the plan.
Story Idea:
Project 2025 seeks to end universal free school lunch, dropping millions of kids from its program, many of them on your beat. Write about this through a food scarcity lens. What are schools, local agencies, and parents saying? How many young people will fall off the program? What are local groups doing to prepare?
