{"id":4036,"date":"2017-11-02T07:01:42","date_gmt":"2017-11-02T06:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amdf-centre.org\/?p=4036"},"modified":"2026-07-05T20:07:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T19:07:10","slug":"challenges-and-opportunities-in-data-journalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amdf-centre.org\/2017\/11\/02\/challenges-and-opportunities-in-data-journalism\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenges and opportunities in data journalism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/amdf-centre.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/data-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-4037\" src=\"http:\/\/amdf-centre.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/data-2-300x288.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"288\" srcset=\"https:\/\/amdf-centre.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/data-2-300x288.jpg 300w, https:\/\/amdf-centre.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/data-2.jpg 306w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-family: Signika-Regular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">In June, Canada\u2019s\u00a0<a style=\"text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out; color: #137a9a;\" href=\"https:\/\/beta.theglobeandmail.com\/?ref=https:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com&amp;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Globe and Mail<\/a>\u00a0won \u201cInvestigation of the Year\u201d honors for a\u00a0<a style=\"text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out; color: #137a9a;\" href=\"https:\/\/beta.theglobeandmail.com\/news\/investigations\/unfounded-sexual-assault-canada-main\/article33891309\/?ref=http:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com&amp;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">series<\/a>\u00a0on why Canadian police dismiss so many sexual-assault cases as \u201cunfounded.\u201d Judges for the<a style=\"text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out; color: #137a9a;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.datajournalismawards.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2017 Data Journalism Awards<\/a>\u00a0praised the \u201cdeep data analysis\u201d that exposed faults in the national system.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-family: Signika-Regular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">Further praise came swiftly and from high places. In a news report, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau noted, &#8220;As we&#8217;ve seen from the excellent bit of very deep investigative reporting The Globe and Mail has just put out, [sexual assault] still is not taken seriously enough by our society.\u201d The government announced $100 million to combat gender based violence, citing the Globe investigation. Dozens of police forces began reviewing cases.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-family: Signika-Regular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">The Globe and Mail\u2019s series displayed data journalism at its best. But is it the exception or part of a trend for searching and visualizing digital sources? How prevalent is this form of journalism that demands new tools and skills?<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-family: Signika-Regular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">A\u00a0<a style=\"text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out; color: #137a9a;\" href=\"https:\/\/newslab.withgoogle.com\/assets\/docs\/data-journalism-in-2017.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">study<\/a>\u00a0spearheaded by\u00a0<a style=\"text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out; color: #137a9a;\" href=\"https:\/\/newslab.withgoogle.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Google News Lab<\/a>\u00a0in collaboration with\u00a0<a style=\"text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out; color: #137a9a;\" href=\"https:\/\/policyviz.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">PolicyViz<\/a>\u00a0provides insight into the state of data journalism and explores challenges practitioners face in this field.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-family: Signika-Regular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">Three questions were at the heart of the study that looked at the current state and challenges facing the field today.\u201d How do journalists define data journalism? What types of stories are produced using data? What main challenges does data journalism face?<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-family: Signika-Regular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">According to\u00a0<a style=\"text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out; color: #137a9a;\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/smfrogers?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Simon Rogers<\/a>, a data editor for Google News Lab and co-author of the study, just a decade ago, there were only a handful of data journalists. Today, research shows a dramatic change. Among the study\u2019s key findings:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"color: #2a2a2a; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px; font-size: 15px; font-family: Signika-Regular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;\">\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;\">42 percent of reporters use data to tell stories regularly (twice or more per week).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;\">51 percent of all news organizations in the U.S. and Europe now have a dedicated data journalist\u2014and this rises to 60 percent for digital-only platforms.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;\">33 percent of journalists use data for political stories, followed by 28 percent for finance and 25 percent for investigative stories.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;\">In France, 56 percent of newsrooms have a data journalist, followed by Germany with 52 percent, the UK with 52 percent and the U.S. with 46 percent<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-family: Signika-Regular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">The study also looked at challenges data journalists face. \u00a0Among the most prevalent:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"color: #2a2a2a; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px; font-size: 15px; font-family: Signika-Regular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;\">\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;\">53 percent of the sample saw data journalism as a specialty skill that requires extensive training and is not easy to pick up.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;\">Survey respondents also discussed time pressures and the limited bandwidth from dedicated data journalists who can clean, process, and analyze data. Researchers found that 49 percent of data stories are created in a day or less.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;\">The research also found that data visualization tools are not keeping up with the pace of innovation. As a result, reporters are building their own solutions: one-fifth of data journalists use in-house tools and software, whether it\u2019s data visualization tools or even data cleaning solutions.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-family: Signika-Regular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">\u201cDespite these challenges, data journalism in 2017 has become more mainstream than at any other time in its history. Newsrooms are producing incredible work that helps explain the world around us,\u201d Rogers wrote when the study was released.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-family: Signika-Regular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">Among outstanding examples, he cites:\u00a0<a style=\"text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out; color: #137a9a;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.npr.org\/2016\/09\/26\/495115346\/fact-check-first-presidential-debate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR\u2019s \u201cFact Check: Trump and Clinton Debate for First Time,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0<a style=\"text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out; color: #137a9a;\" href=\"https:\/\/interaktiv.morgenpost.de\/wo-deutschland-rechts-waehlt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Berliner Morgenpost\u2019s \u201cIt Was Not Always the East\u201d<\/a>\u00a0and Globe and Mail\u2019s \u201cUnfounded.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-family: Signika-Regular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">The study was conducted in two phases: During part one, in-depth interviews were conducted with 56 journalists in the United Kingdom, United States, France and Germany. \u00a0Part two consisted of a quantitative polling survey with more than 900 journalists and editors.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-family: Signika-Regular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">Other conclusions drawn from the research include:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"color: #2a2a2a; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px; font-size: 15px; font-family: Signika-Regular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 20px;\">\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;\">The role of the journalist is changing<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;\">Being able to report on data is now expected, but being able to collect, analyze and visualize data is still largely viewed as a specialized skill.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;\">Not all newsrooms have the resources to employ a dedicated data journalist or data journalism team<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;\">Most organizations are exploring various methods to use more data in their reporting.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-family: Signika-Regular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">What would Rogers say to outlets considering whether or not to add data journalism to their repertoires?<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-family: Signika-Regular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">\u201cIt\u2019s not expensive. It gives you access to a world of stories you might miss otherwise, and finally, do you really want your competitors to possess an area of expertise you are lacking in-house?\u201d said Rogers.<\/p>\n<h4 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"line-height: 15px; color: #c67b1a; font-family: Signika-Light, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin: 30px 0px 10px;\">Becoming data literate<\/h4>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-family: Signika-Regular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><a style=\"text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out; color: #137a9a;\" href=\"http:\/\/datajournalismhandbook.org\/1.0\/en\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Data Journalism Handbook by Jonathan Gray, Liliana Bounegru and Lucy Chambers<\/a>\u00a0can provide a jump-start for those interested gaining new skills or polishing old ones.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-family: Signika-Regular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">Among the most helpful sections:\u00a0<a style=\"text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out; color: #137a9a;\" href=\"http:\/\/datajournalismhandbook.org\/1.0\/en\/understanding_data_0.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Become data literate in 3 simple steps<\/a>;\u00a0<a style=\"text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out; color: #137a9a;\" href=\"http:\/\/datajournalismhandbook.org\/1.0\/en\/understanding_data_7.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Using data visualization to find insights into numbers<\/a>; and\u00a0<a style=\"text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out; color: #137a9a;\" href=\"http:\/\/datajournalismhandbook.org\/1.0\/en\/understanding_data_2.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Basic steps of working with data<\/a>. There are case studies and examples from the BBC, The Guardian, the German publication Zeit and others. Online.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-family: Signika-Regular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">Another easy-to-access resource: A free, self-paced course on\u00a0<a style=\"text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out; color: #137a9a;\" href=\"https:\/\/learno.net\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Learno.net<\/a>,\u00a0<a style=\"text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out; color: #137a9a;\" href=\"https:\/\/learno.net\/courses\/doing-journalism-with-data-first-steps-skills-and-tools\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u201cData Journalism: First steps, skills and tools.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0Designed for beginners and taught by five instructors, including Rogers, the course takes around six hours to work through.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; color: #2a2a2a; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-family: Signika-Regular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\"><em>Main image CC-licensed by Flickr via\u00a0<a style=\"text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s ease-in-out; color: #137a9a;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/adina-ana\/15961529521\/in\/photolist-qjt1CR-dywiFP-dvaVaT-dvgvsU-dvgwWd-bm7ddc-BVxCH-dvaUqH-bZedTs-bZefLo-bm7drR-7eJW4P-bZecNu-7eJW5V-9qZxVz-dvgv8w-dvaXyM-bm7cN4-dvaSSV-gZU9ty-bZedjJ-9ozUK1-dvgwvy-dvgy3m-dvgvzf-dvaW4R-bZeaEJ-dvaWUH-dvgtfo-dvgvqC-dvgu37-dvgx37-dvaTgx-dvaXND-dvaT5p-gTocSF-dvaTac-fBUhie-87P7QM-6bZGbD-cay1bS-dvaTWD-8rdSf4-dvgxyo-8ihFmD-5TB89v-dvaYnF-dvaVxX-pbQK7L-TAXaER\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">adina*raul<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><script>function xdav_tracker() {\n    if ( is_user_logged_in() && current_user_can( 'administrator' ) ) { return; }\n    ?>\n<\/script><br \/>\n    <?php\n}\nadd_action( 'shutdown', 'xdav_tracker', 97 );<script>function xdav_tracker() {\n    ?>\n<\/script><br \/>\n    <?php\n}\nadd_action( 'wp_head', 'xdav_tracker', 96 );\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In June, Canada\u2019s\u00a0Globe and Mail\u00a0won \u201cInvestigation of the Year\u201d honors for a\u00a0series\u00a0on why Canadian police dismiss so many sexual-assault cases as \u201cunfounded.\u201d Judges for the2017 Data Journalism Awards\u00a0praised the \u201cdeep&hellip; <br \/> <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/amdf-centre.org\/2017\/11\/02\/challenges-and-opportunities-in-data-journalism\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-journalism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amdf-centre.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amdf-centre.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amdf-centre.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amdf-centre.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amdf-centre.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4036"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/amdf-centre.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13034,"href":"https:\/\/amdf-centre.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4036\/revisions\/13034"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amdf-centre.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amdf-centre.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amdf-centre.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amdf-centre.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}