Data Journalism: where storytelling meets data science
Behind every data point, there’s a story.
There’s a college student curating their favorite playlist behind a Spotify metric. There’s a curious kid behind a Google search. There’s a family uprooted behind the latest climate change trends.
When we’re collecting and analyzing quantitative measurements, it’s easy to lose sight of what the numbers actually represent. What are the real-life implications of statistical results?
This is where Data Journalism comes into play.
It used to be that in a newsroom, there would be one or two people designated for crunching numbers.
I had the opportunity to interview the head of visuals and data at The Guardian, Alvin Chang. He explained¹: “Newsrooms would have a person in the corner, who works with data, and [reporters] would go to that person for help. And I think in the last few years…I think there’s been kind of a push to have reporters understand how to use data.”
Chang graduated from NYU Gallatin with a keen interest in journalism, thinking that he’d be writing feature or political stories as a professional journalist.
But instead, graduating during the recession meant the only job he could find was as a hockey writer at ESPN.
“I didn’t know anything about hockey”, Chang said¹, “but what I did know was I could do some kind of … data analysis and maybe have a story — I don’t know, I was just kind of desperately trying to pay rent.”
At that time, Chang was using Microsoft Excel to find averages of numbers he’d copied from Internet searches. Now, he uses programming and data visualization software to better understand data sets and then convey the stories they reveal.
I also spoke to Jasen Lo, current Data Intern for The Associated Press (AP). He similarly applies data science technology to aid storytelling. Lo earned a Bachelor’s degree in Data Science from Minerva University. As a student there, he observed issues around him that were going unaddressed — like housing policies or currency exchanges.
Writing for his school paper, Lo realized that interactive data visualizations could help people understand the quantitative topics he wanted to report on.
“I kind of really just jumped into it,” Lo said². He applied languages such as R and Python that were taught in his academic courses, and also self-taught methods for data visualization — such as d3, Flourish, Idyll, and JavaScript.
Lo advises that students treat these challenging projects as portfolio pieces, and seriously consider what they say about you as a person, your skills, and your interests.
Reflecting on his hiring process, Lo shared² that “it never occurred to me that they cared about what my GPA was or the school I graduated from.”
Now working at AP after his 2021 graduation, Lo is experiencing the professional data journalism world. He works with the Race and Ethnicity team and back end data handling — such as collecting and analyzing data rather than building data visualizations.
The time constraints and reputation of AP adds a new kind of pressure when completing projects, and Lo remains cognizant of the responsibility necessary while dealing with data.
When asked about the bias that can be introduced when deciding what particular tests or models to use while analyzing data, Lo shared² that “One thing that I’ve always got in the back of my mind is, ‘What is the methodology we’re choosing here, and how do we justify that?.” It takes time, patience, conversations with colleagues and academics, and speaking with people who actually witness the effects that your conclusions describe, to validate one’s methodology.
The responsibility for truth and the storytelling aspects of a data journalist’s work differentiate the job from a typical data science career.
“It’s an opportunity to really add to a discussion about a particular topic, and to be a part of civil society in a way that is extremely important… [Data journalists] uncover really, really obscure and problematic things that are happening. And I’m really glad I have an opportunity to be part of that work,” Lo said².
Data journalism is a growing, exciting field. It’s a promising possibility for data science students with a love for the humanities. Want to figure out if it’s the right career for you? Here are some resources!
- Data Journalism Handbook 2 by the European Journalism Centre and Google News Initiative
- Google News Initiative’s Data Journalism Training
- The Guardian’s Data Blog
- FiveThirtyEight, a data-driven, politics focused news publication
Reference List:
[1] Alvin Chang (The Guardian) in discussion with the author, November 2021
[2] Jasen Lo (Associated Press) in discussion with the author, November 2021
