Your job is to analyze the story as to how good a job the reporter did describing the study. Did he or she give you enough information to judge the validity of the study? What statistical tests were used, and were they appropriate? Are the conclusions correct interpretations of these statistical tests?
The study doesn't have to be a "study", in the scientific sense. Maybe the article is reporting on a "trend", and claims to have evidence supporting the existence of this trend. Then you can ask if this evidence is satisfying, and if maybe a statistical treatment is called for, even though one is not used.
For an example, last year the LA Times did a story reporting on a study that claimed that neighborhoods with a high density of liquor stores also had high crimes. The conclusion was that communities should cut back on the amount of liquor stores. One could point out that this is a mis-interpretation of the concept of "correlation", offer other explanations, and include a correct interpretation of the study.