What I’m Reading
September 27, 2022
In today’s edition of What I’m Reading, I’ll share an article with inside journalism tips on making data easier to read. The second recommendation sings an ode to the feature photograph. And the final article looks back at the time in office of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Making Data Easier To Read
Before I share two photography-related articles, I have a NiemanLab article with thoughts on how journalists can make it easier for readers to understand data-rich stories.
Joshua Benton leads “Number soup”: Can we make it easier for readers to digest all the numbers journalists stuff into their stories? with a frightening paragraph. He wrote it to make a point.
You have to read it yourself because I am not even attempting to paraphrase what Benton describes as “a long sentence clotted with clauses, thick with too many numbers and percentages and comparisons.”
Do you know what numerism represents? It describes writers who “take numbers for granted” and overlook the need to make data easy to understand. Benton further describes a study of news stories that include a healthy amount of numbers and what the study’s authors recommend journalists improve upon to help readers make sense of the data.
Instead of detailing all of it here, I hope you find it more useful to check out the article yourself. It tells you about an analysis tool called Dedoose, which helped the researchers find the biggest problems in number-dense stories. Amongst those problems: the more numbers one tries to communicate, the more complex the grammar often becomes.
I leave you to the article with the suggested counter tactic, which sounds intuitive (but often is hard to achieve): write shorter and clearer sentences.
Ode To The Feature Photograph
I like to send you a photography post for today’s second recommendation. From the Associated Press and their AP Images Blog, the article Feature photography: The elevation of the everyday shares four AP photographers and their thoughts and results on feature assignments.
Features, in contrast to regular assignments, are the art of celebrating the ordinary or telling a visual story outside the realm of headline events.
Photographer Charlie Riedel describes what he’s looking for when he’s not working on a specific assignment as pictures that “can be as simple as someone watching a sunset or playing in a fountain.”
I absolutely love his thoughts on the process. I highly recommend you give it a read. His photograph of the silhouetted boys is outstanding. So are the others he shares, especially the moon picture.
Brynn Anderson’s comments are equally as insightful. What strikes me here is the focus on patience.
Ariana Cubillos concentrates her efforts on finding human moments. The beach photo speaks to me the most. But the quiet moment of the elderly lady at home is very strong, too.
Finally, Michael Probst speaks about his search for pictures that an international audience doesn’t “see often in their countries.” The motorbike sunrise photograph is simply stunning.
A Premiership In Pictures
Shortly after Boris Johnson announced his resignation as British Prime Minister in July, The Los Angeles Times published a visual review of his premiership. Without spending many words, I’d like to send you to that gallery.
Photos: Before the resignation, the colorful reign of Britain’s Boris Johnson includes a variety of moments of Johnson’s three years in office. Remember him jogging with his dog through the streets of London? Or Johnson stopping at a boxing academy during his 2019 election campaign?
The picture where he eats ice cream at a leadership campaign event in Wales has a certain humor. A similar feeling elicits the picture above, in which Johnson participates in a rugby event.
Creatively speaking, I enjoy the image from his time as mayor of London. I really like the photographer’s use of the plexiglass and the effect that adds to the frame.
Johnson may have been a controversial Prime Minister, but he certainly leaves the world stage with many memorable photographs that document his time at the helm of the United Kingdom.
That’s all for today’s reading updates. Later in the week, I’ll have another post from my series on all things journalism, photography, and writing. Until then, enjoy your readings.
