For providing context for breaking news or developing enterprise stories off your beat, databases are your friend. Learn how to develop a data state of mind, find newsworthy data and begin to analyze data sets. Spot the enterprise stories in the numbers, whether your beat is breaking news, sports, health, business, education, local government or cops and courts. It is accompanied by two handouts: Bringing a data mindset to your reporting by Houston, and Pivot tables on Google Sheets by Dylan Tiger. Brant Houston is the Knight Chair in Investigative Reporting at the University of Illinois, where he oversees an online newsroom, CU-CitizenAccess.org. For more info on the News Leaders Association's NewsTrain, see https://www.newsleaders.org/newstrain.
Developing a data mindset to improve stories every day - Brant Houston - Illinois NewsTrain 4.01.22
1. Developing a data
mindset to improve
stories every day
Brant Houston
University of Illinois
houstonb@illinois.edu
@BrantHouston
With special thanks to Todd Wallack of WBUR
2. Why data?
• Context and comparisons
• Trends and patterns
• Tips
• Credibility
7. Stories every newsroom can
do with spreadsheets
• Salaries, city budgets, and taxes
• Elections and campaign finance
• Crime: incidents, arrests,
prosecutions, jails
• Inspections, complaints, fines
• Roads, bridges and buildings
8. Goals for today
• Finding and
downloading/importing data
• Using spreadsheets
10. Our agenda today
How to:
•Find data
•Summarize data
•Sort and filter
•Calculate
•Pick a data story
and get started
11. Finding data
• Articles
• Data portals
• Independent
groups
• Forms
• FOIA requests
• Search
• Records-
retention skeds
• Build your own
28. Building a prize-winning database
2015 Pulitzer for Public Service
Post & Courier in Charleston, S.C.
Database of 300 women killed in domestic abuse
33. Exercise 1 and 2: Sort and filter
bit.ly/BaseballPay2017
You can either use Google Sheets
OR
Download the file and use Excel
Note: Case matters with bit.ly links
34. Exercise 1: Sort
On your own:
Filter to find the highest-paid New York Yankee and
what he makes.
Answer: CC Sabathia, $25 million
bit.ly/BaseballPay2017
35. Make a copy or download
(For Google Sheets)
(For Excel)
52. What can I quantify?
 Sentencing
 Crime logs
 Jail logs
 Sex offenders
 Police discipline
COPS and COURTS
What’s my question about:
53. What can I quantify?
EDUCATION
What’s my question about:
 Test scores
 Enrollment
 Repair requests
 Salaries
 Campus crime
 Teacher assignments
54. How to frame your story
Photo by Flickr user linearclassifier
a. What percentage of bridges are unsafe?
areunsafe?
b. I want to do a story on unsafe bridges.
55. Vols. 1+2 free at
bit.ly/datajbook
Where do I learn more?
â–ŞIRE/NICAR training/tip sheets
â–ŞOnline classes/videos
â–ŞAsk colleagues
â–ŞRead a book
â–ŞNICAR-L email list (Listserv)
â–ŞFind data and practice
â–ŞHandout: bit.ly/illinoisnewstrain