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The 2025 Freelance Fellowship Recipients
Paul Overberg, of USA TODAY, points to a graph of the Gini Index, which is a measure of income inequality. The diagonal line is perfect distribution of income and the curved line is a representation of actual distribution income. Overberg is interested in the space between them and what it describes. Photo by Travis Hartman.…
Read MoreIRE executive director Mark Horvit and training director Megan Luther presented the Year in Car yesterday, highlighting data-driven journalism from across the country in 2012 and what can be learne from them. Here’s their list: California Watch: Broken Shield FINDINGS: Exposed flaws in the way a special state police force handles crimes against the developmentally…
Read MoreUnions and pensions may sound like daunting subjects to cover, but Tom McGinty of The Wall Street Journal and MaryJo Webster of the St. Paul Pioneer Press lay out compelling reasons to get past that impression, and helpful tools to get you there. McGinty (who stresses he is not a labor reporter, but learned a…
Read MoreFun does not equal fluff. Spice up data viz and you can “take a wonky topic and personalize it,” said Tasneem Raja of Mother Jones in the “Making interactives fun” session. Also, fun interactives build your credibility for the hard-nosed investigations down the line. When readers see how you deftly handle dog license data they…
Read MorePhotos by Travis Hartman What if you could predict a hospital’s quality of care the same way baseball statisticians can predict a pitcher’s season or a team’s record? The sports world has long been using statistics in creative ways — and Ryan Pitts, Jeremy Bowers and Matt Waite say journalists can and should tap into…
Read MoreThink of a data dashboard as a bird’s-eye view of data that gets automatically updated in real-time. It’s like a news app meant only for internal use, and the ultimate goal is to make repeat reporting processes more efficient. Aaron Bycoffe of The Huffington Post and Derek Williams and Jacob Harris of The New York…
Read MoreNot all data reporting needs to be a long-term project. Quick-hit queries are helpful for feeding the beast with substance, and they’re a great way for reporters new to computer-assisted reporting get used to the process. The best advice, regardless of beat, is to develop what IRE Training Director Megan Luther calls an “arsenal.” This…
Read MoreReporting and app development don’t have to be separate processes. In fact, the earlier these workflows are integrated, the more efficient both processes can be. This makes for better reporting and presentation, which amplifies your value for your audiences. This was the main take-away from a power-panel of Lena Groeger, Ted Mellnik, Charles Ornstein, Serdar…
Read MoreLightning Talks moderator Derek Willis of the New York Times kicks off the event filled with fast paced, pithy presentations. Organized by Willis and New York Times colleague Aron Pilhofer, lightning talks debuted at the 2010 CAR Conference in Phoenix and have grown in popularity — this year’s lightning talks had an overflow crowd. Ben…
Read MoreTake a ride to understand inspection data. Megan Luther of IRE said. Buckle up next to an inspector and get to know their world: how often they inspect, how do they do it? How often? Do they inspect everyone on a set timeline, or just the new kids on the block? What is the inspection…
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