This document provides an introduction to data journalism for financial reporters and editors. It discusses finding and using various types of data sources like government statistics, NGO data, and web scraping. It also covers visualizing data through tools like ManyEyes, Fusion Tables, and Tableau. The document emphasizes that data journalism tells truthful, public interest stories through analyzing piles of data and stresses the importance of teamwork between writers, researchers, and designers.

1. Introduction to Data Journalism
for Financial Reporters and Editors
Peter Verweij
Wits University
Johannesburg Sept 2012

2. An Example
Rating Agencies and
interest rates in EU
countries.
Here is the Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/new

3. Numbers in Journalism
 Writing a story about
ICT and Economic
development
 Internet user In
southern Africa
 Google Public data

4. Statistics Matter

Digging deeper:
London Riots

Finding Background

Official Explanation

EU unemployment

Make use of
prepared maps,
graphs, tables: food
prices

5. Traffic Accidents
 From Database:
2000 accidents
 Top ten
 Dangerous junctions
 Map is the story

6. What is Data Journalism?
Producing stories truth seeking stories in the
public interest without a legal foundation
FROM A PILE OF DATA

7. Shoot out and licenses
 7 dead; 17 wounded
 Check the licenses
 What do you want to
know?
 Methodology:
formulate and
hypothesis

8. Mayors: gender and political party
 Appointment of
mayors
 Formulate your ideas
first
 Test them of the data
 Look at the level of
measurement

9. Finding Data

WHERE: 
HOW:

National Bureau for 
Download
statistics 
Copy-paste

NGO's 
scraping

Web: find excel

Web: tables

10. Mother of all Data Journalism

Spreadsheets 
Ordering data

MS Office: excel 
Simple calculations

Open Office for key figures

Graphs

11. Visualize!
 ManyEyes
 Fusion Tables
 Tableau
 Qgis
 Here are the data for
scraping

12. Data Journalism: team work and
important

IMPORTANT 
TEAM WORK

More data 
Writer

More use of data for 
Researcher
policies 
Hacker

Check 
Designer

Find hidden trends

13. Thank you!
 This is the map for
Saturday Sept 15.
 Peter@d3-media.nl