ProPublica has put up a new graphic that shows at a glance where members of Congress stand on gun rights and gun control. Using the now-standard red and blue tints to indicate party affiliation, Republican or Democrat, the graphic shows the NRA’s ratings for both Senate and House members, NRA contributions to each member, and …
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It can take a huge amount of time and effort to build an interactive graphic that’s both visually engaging and informative. That’s why many news organizations only make the effort for projects that will have a long shelf life. CNN made the investment for a long-term project called Home and Away that chronicles casualties from the …
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Public records are not only a treasure trove of story ideas, but also they offer reporters a way to make a routine story stand out. Records can provide the context and perspective the audience needs to fully understand the importance or impact of a story. Michael Morisy works for MuckRock.com, a web service that helps …
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Journalists are notorious for hating anything to do with math. If we’d been any good with numbers, I often joke, we might have chosen a different career. But it’s essential for today’s journalists to get comfortable working with data, and the good news is that more and more of them are. What’s changed? For one …
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A friend of mine calls her journalism students “do-gooders who hate math.” But journalists need math skills to make sense of numbers the way they need language skills to make sense of words. The truth is, math is not rocket science and you don’t need to be a nerd to improve your reporting of news …
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If your goal is to produce a sticky Web site, data is one way to get there. Providing lots of information that people can explore on their own will entice some of them, at least, to spend time on the site. That’s part of the thinking behind the Data Bay at tbo.com, the Web site …
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We live in a time when the personal is no longer private, and that doesn’t just apply to Facebook and Twitter feeds. Government databases that journalists use in their stories include a ton of personal information, too. But just because you can get your hands on it doesn’t mean you should post it online, says …
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Surveys often lead to fascinating stories, but the data behind them can be hard to convey in an interesting way. The recent Pew Forum report on religion in American life is a classic example. The survey found that more than half of Americans say religion is very important in their daily lives, attend religious services …
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Maps are a great way to make data come to life but if you don’t have the right information in the right form, creating a map can be a pain. The good news is that there are easy-to-use online tools that make map creation a snap. Assuming your spreadsheet includes geographic information like street address, …
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Maps can show the scope of a story in a way that words and pictures alone cannot. The New York Times has produced a simple map that shows the impact of unemployment across the country, county-by-county. Roll-over boxes show how the unemployment rate has changed from a year ago. As the caption notes and the …
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