Tag Archives: misinformation

FAQ: On data journalism and open data

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In the second part of this FAQ (first part here), I respond to more answers to questions from a Turkish PR company (published on LinkedIn here)…

Q: What skills do you think a journalist must absolutely have when working with data?

There are three core skills I always begin with: sorting, filtering, and calculating percentages (proportion and change). You can do most data journalism stories with those alone.

Alongside those basic technical skills it’s important to have the basic editorial skills of checking a source against other sources (following up your data by getting quotes or interviews), and being able to communicate what you’ve found clearly for a particular audience.

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“Systems would go offline for days just to delay the release of data” – Rodrigo Menegat on Covid-19 data journalism in Brazil

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In a guest post for OJB, Rodrigo George Willoughby spoke to data journalist Rodrigo Menegat about reporting on Covid-19 in Brazil, managing uncertainty and how data journalism could help debunk misinformation.

At the height of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in March, data on the disease was in high demand. It required collaboration — something made more difficult with data lacking in quality.

Having spent most of his career covering politics, last year Rodrigo Menegat realised that science data — particularly Covid-19 data — was fast becoming a staple in the newsroom. 

“The first challenge was learning how to cover data which is very different to sport or politics,” he says.

The difficulty was understanding something that, as a country, Brazil was not ready to face. Continue reading →

FAQ: Data journalism and gatekeeping

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The latest frequently asked questions post comes in response to a PhD student looking at data journalism and gatekeeping. Here are the questions and my answers:

How do you think the role of journalists has changed during the 21st century, especially with the data explosion and the rise of misinformation and disinformation?

Journalists and news organisations have both been forced to adapt by the increased competition, and the changing nature of the world that we report on (i.e. the fact that it is more data-driven).

Many publishers tell me they want to give their journalists data skills because they feel that they need to ‘up their game’ in order to compete with new entrants to the sector, and to create distinctive content in an environment where celebrities, politicians, sportspeople etc. all publish direct to audiences rather than via media. Continue reading →