JOUR 202 Data Journalism PDF

 Understanding Data Tech vs. Journ - Before the AI vs. journos “war,” there’s Journalism computer vs. journos....

 Understanding Data Tech vs. Journ - Before the AI vs. journos “war,” there’s Journalism computer vs. journos. - Data journalism best utilizes Data Journalism technology. - Can help a journalist tell a complex story through engaging infographics. Not a replacement - Data can be the source of data - The techniques of CAR do not replace journalism, or it can be the tool with proven journalistic practices. It has which the story is told—or it can be become a part of them. It also requires both. Like any source, it should be greater responsibility and vigilance. treated with skepticism; and like any The old standard- “verify, verify, verify” tool, we should be conscious of how it that one learns in basic reporting can shape and restrict the stories that classes becomes more critical. are created with it. - - “Healthy skepticism” (Tamang hinala) We can both use news and feature or becomes ever more important. The both but in data journalism, feature is idea of interviewing multiple sources mostly used. and cross-referencing them becomes ever more crucial. Data - Collection of things. Elliot Jaspin - Make things palatable. - Pulitzer Prize-Winning American - Look for trends. journalist; one of the pioneers of data journalism. Computer-Assisted Reporting - “Computers don’t make a bad reporter - Some argue that data has always been into a good reporter. What they do is a part of journalism since there were make a good report better.” maps or tables of statistics in newspapers in the 18th or 19th Importance of Data Journalism century. It wasn’t until 1967 that data - Impactful; facts-based; fact-checking analysis started to catch on. - While computer-assisted reporting Numbers do not lie. - They say, numbers don’t lie (CAR) has been much more widely - Wides perspective, storytelling (Macro) practiced since the 1980s, it is since the beginning of the 21st century that Use numbers for deeper understanding. the critical importance of journalists having the ability to analyze and Micro: speci c stories of speci c individuals. (Always start with/ micro) visualize data has been globally recognized. Macro: big picture - There are insights (on bar charts) Interviewees: case studies Insights answer the questions: what Anecdotal lead: show a piece of did you see / what are you life. supposed to see. It provides context. Important Notes - Journalists need to know how to search for and analyze digital fi fi  information because it is the way - Citizen and Collaborative public and business documents are Journalism stored, distributed, and kept. It also is - Building stories from and by a skill that is needed to compete with communities. other news organizations or to get - Citizen journalists: ordinary better jobs. people that assumes the role of - Once learned, CAR permits a journalists when needed. journalists to quickly gather and e.g. during elections, disaster analyze comprehensive information. - Away from mainstream - The best ways to learn the basic - Think beyond what’s happening. software tools are through trial and - Evergreens?: untouched topics error, repetition, and intellectually that are not usually reported. creativity. - Social Journalism - What and who you stand for? News Gathering - Personalized and Localized COVID-19 changed media operations. Most traditional But, adaptability saves the day. Field work Requires talking to people The Reporting Process Are journalists really ‘Marites’ of 1. Idea / tip society? - primary or secondary information - beat system When doing personalized news 2. News gathering gathering, remember to: - Walang makakapalit sa eld work. Introduce yourself and your 3. Angle / Analysis intentions. - Talk to your data Remember, you are talking to a 4. Writing person, not an object. - 1k-1.5k words Use their language, don’t be - Long form (not on the writing itself technical. but on the data gathering process) Be curious as if you want to know 5. Fact-checking: proofreading everything about them. - Have writing buddies. Ask the right questions, don’t waste 6. Submission other people's time. Take notes:) Reuters’ 6 Approaches to Usually, what strikes as the most Comprehensive News Gathering during news gathering becomes our - Social Media angle. According to Reuters Institute 2016 Digital News Report, 31% of the Data Sourcing population in 26 countries surveyed social media to become ‘proactive Our Work ow participants’ in news. - Think of a topic - Data Journalism - Get data Making your own database, making - Clean, organize your data sense of raw data, insights. - Analyze fl fi  - Visualize - Non-governmental organizations - Write your story - Experts, academicians From the internet In choosing your topic, remember - Ideally, we go to real life sources more News elements often to ask for data. Your interests - But if the data is not available, we rely SMART (speci c, measurable, on online sources. attainable, realistic, and time-bound [not necessarily]) Sourcing from the internet: Your topic must be data-driven. A Everyone’s best friend: GOOGLE topic that has a data aspect. - Comprehensive coverage The data aspect must be new. It - Great relevancy must give us new fascination and - Used for nding web pages, ndings. images, discussion, products Aleph Data Story Flow Chart - Data-based - Network of journalists from abroad. OSING (open source investigation) - Open source information using google Things to Remember when using Google (SEO- Search Engine Optimization) Capitalization Google is not case-sensitive. All Two Types of Sources letters have the same meaning Primary: data journalism regardless of its case. Secondary e.g. Investigative, investiGaTive, - You have to look for another INVESTIGATIVE will have the same results in the google search. secondary source to match what they are saying. - Dahas ph. Automatic “and” Queries Based on multiple sources There is no need to include “and” in searches But where can we get necessary The order in which the words are typed somewhat a ects the results. information for a data journalism To restrict a search further, add more story? terms From real life people, institutions - e.g.to nd journalism issues, - Libraries “journalism issues”. But if you - Government o ces want to focus on the Philippine - Educational institutions setting, type “journalism issues fi fi fi fi ffi ff  Philippines” Checking the URL.com- commercial organizations Use Quotation marks to get the.edu- education speci c word/s you’re looking for.gov- government site If you’re looking for a phrase or.org- organizational site sentence, google it with quotation.net- network sources marks..mil- (military, navy, air force) Quotation marks also helps us get the direct words or phrases we’re If the data were not from usual looking for. sources, you may ask these questions: SEO: use simple language Who wrote it and why? Who Google trends published it and for what purpose? Are the author’s credentials The power of “or” provided? Look for the “about us” To save time, use “or” in the search Is there contact info provided? Look bar. for the”contact us” or “email us" Because if you’re looking for journalism issues in Asia and then Building Your Database alternatively, for the Philippines, you can just separate the two search Process terms with “or”. 1. Topic 2. Data souring Be speci c 3. Building your database Include the domain where you target to get your data and the le type you Database need We know access to information in a Site:*(domain you need) + letype general sense. (you want) Is simply a spreadsheet If you want, you can add the country Compilation of information domain Any collection of data, or - e.g. drug war killings gov.ph information, that is specially letype: pdftype: pdf organized for rapid search and retrieval by a computer. How to vouch for data’s reliability? Databases are structured to facilitate Internet IQ checklist for journalists the storage, retrieval, modi cation, (formulated by poynter institute) and deletion of data in conjunction If the data from NGOs, government with various data-processing o ces, they’re generally reliable. operations. If the information or data was In a general sense, there is no previously published by reliable de nitive format database. sources such as news sites or NGOs, they can be used. In journalism, we build a database using spreadsheet (before) but now, Ask the actual source or get another we use google sheets (preferable person vouch for the data. since you can access the data real time) fi ffi fi fi fi fi fi fi  - Third, what do you want to know or prove? Add that to the variables or categories. Example of Database - We can’t control the information. Topic: something you chose Category: something you’ve decided on; fruit of brainstorming Before, when journalists or professional deals with data, they Info/values: something you’ve gathered usually use tables, graphs, etc. - This is not recommended in data journalism since encoding of data is real time. Checklist before building You should be sure that the dataset you’re looking for does not already exist. How many information or data will be entered in the spreadsheet? A realistic estimate on the personnel and the time needed to build the spreadsheet. Basic Requirements Spreadsheet (Google sheets) Topic Variables or categories you’re looking for - In the context of media, what ideas are connected to the central idea. - e.g. hazing: name of the victim, number of victims, laws on hazing (these are called categories) - First, can be acquired from basic details or information (their names, age, basically just the demographic) these are variables. - Second, from the questions you have. e.g. category of senators who nished tertiary education fi