Data Journalism 101
Before you get started with your very first data journalism project, it might be helpful to first develop a sense of what it means to be a data journalist. Each of the pages linked below aims to provide aspiring data journalists with a compendium of key concepts, professional jargon, industry best practices, or foundational reading materials that will help them start off on the right foot as they step into the world of data-driven storytelling. As with any 101 course, you won’t learn everything there is to know about data journalism just by reading through the contents of these pages. However, by the time you’re through, you’ll have a better understanding of what data journalism is, and a much clearer idea of what you need to learn next.
- Quick Guide to Data Journalism. Created by the online learning platform DataCamp, this succinct, 8-step guide to becoming a data journalist will help readers who are new to the field determine what knowledge they need, and how to get started.
- What Is Data Journalism? For an exceptionally clear overview of the field of data journalism, look no further than this detailed handbook, which has been made available for free under the Creative Commons license. A supplement to the original publication, entitled “The Data Journalism Handbook 2,” was published in 2019.
- 5 tips for getting started in data journalism. This thoughtful piece from 2011 by Associated Press data journalism team editor Troy Thibodeaux offers helpful, high-level suggestions for those who are just beginning to explore the field.
- Essential data journalism skills. Bite-sized insights from a Twitter conversation between three data journalists add up to a fascinating look at the essential skills needed to secure a data reporting job—particularly relevant for recent or soon-to-be journalism school graduates.
- 9 Must-read Books for Beginners. For those who prefer longform content, or who find the profusion of online data journalism resources to be overwhelming, data journalist Adrian Blanco has compiled a list of nine excellent books that will help you get started on your data journalism journey.
- Journalism in the Age of Data. Produced by John S. Knight Journalism Fellows at Stanford in 2010, this annotated, documentary-style video report explores the use of data visualization as a storytelling medium (54 minutes).
