The document outlines the journey and training involved in data journalism, emphasizing the tools and methods for sourcing and analyzing data to tell investigative stories. It highlights the impact of the BBC Data Unit, which has trained over 500 journalists and generated more than 1,700 stories in two years, and details various case studies illustrating successful data journalism projects. Additionally, it discusses future directions in data journalism, such as the use of generative AI and systematic hypothesis checking.

1. TAU
The data units
We’re not in Kansas anymore

2. 1. The journey to data
journalism
2. Magicians and unicorns
3. Behind the curtain

4. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-40273193
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44981103

6. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56420186 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59594712

8. ● Training
● Journalism
● Events

9. ● Spreadsheets
● Learn to use Flourish
● Google Sheets
● Sourcing data
● The investigative story method
● How to clean datasets
● Building your own dataset
● How to plan an investigation
● Using statistics
● How to map your data
● Finding stories in financial data
● Merging datasets
● Finding stories in procurement data
● Advanced internet search
● Using the Office for National Statistics
● Find the right data for your beat
● Using Freedom of Information laws

10. 500+
Journalists trained during the past
two years
1,700+
Stories generated across partner
titles
(Numbers)

11. Bisiani et al (2023) The Data Journalism Workforce: Demographics, Skills, Work Practices, and Challenges in the
Aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemic

12. https://github.com/bbc-data-unit

13. BBC England data unit
https://github.com/bbc-data-unit

14. IDEA
DATA
STORY
IDEA
DATA
STORY
Start with an idea — or with data

15. Case study: university
artwork

17. https://github.com/BBC-Data-Unit/university-artwork

18. https://github.com/BBC-Data-Unit/university-artwork

19. https://datajournalism.com/read/longreads/data-journalism-ideas

20. Case study: homelessness

21. https://github.com/search?q=topic%
3Ahomelessness+org%3ABBC-Dat
a-Unit+fork%3Atrue&type=repositor
ies

22. https://github.com/BBC-Data-Unit/homelessness-real-figure

23. https://datajournalism.com/read/longreads/data-journalism-ideas

24. https://github.com/BBC-Data-Unit/dead-whales
Case studies: context to news
stories, liveblogs, ‘in
numbers’

25. https://github.com/BBC-Data-Unit/dead-whales

26. https://github.com/BBC-Data-Unit/dead-whales / https://github.com/BBC-Data-Unit/blue-plaques

27. https://datajournalism.com/read/longreads/data-journalism-ideas

28. Story source
1 day max*. Angles:
change, scale, ranking
Data release (public)
Diary story: *plan ahead by
checking previous
releases
1 day max. Angles:
change, scale, ranking.
Data release (press release)
Data story:
check quality of data
1 day max. Angles:
change, scale, ranking.
National data story
(Or data story in other locality)
Local angle data story:
same data but local angle
1-3 days. Angles: scale,
change, exploratory
Event-based news story
(something happens)
Analysis/backgrounder
putting event into context
5-12 weeks. Angles:
scale, change, ranking,
variation
Event-based news story
(something happens)
FOI story
Timescale and angles
vary
Idea/tip-off Data request/FOI story
Timescale and angles
vary
Idea/tip-off Investigation
Story type Timescale/angle

29. Case study: library cuts

30. D
ata
locked
in
PD
F
s

32. https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2016-02-11/27175/

33. https://datajournalism.com/read/longreads/data-journalism-ideas

34. Case study: unsolved crime

35. DATA.POLICE.U
K >2,400 CSVs, 37 million rows

38. https://github.com/paulbradshaw/commandline/blob/master/movingfiles.md

39. https://cloud.google.com/bigquery/what-is-bigquery

40. https://github.com/BBC-Data-Unit/unsolved-crime

41. Case studies: pandemic
bankruptcies, police
misconduct and data-driven
paths

43. https://github.com/BBC-Data-Unit/police_misconduct

44. https://www.policeconduct.gov.uk/news/gmp-officer-arrested-following-allegations-he-abused-his-position

46. https://onlinejournalismblog.com/2020/08/11/here-are-the-7-types-of-stories-most-often-found-in-data/

47. https://onlinejournalismblog.com/2020/08/11/here-are-the-7-types-of-stories-most-often-found-in-data/

49. https://github.com/BBC-Data-Unit/football-finances

50. https://onlinejournalismblog.com/2020/01/29/how-to-plan-a-journalism-project-that-needs-data-entry/

51. https://github.com/BBC-Data-Unit/social-media-ab
se https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-63330885
● Source: 3m tweets using Twint + Docker
● Quantify: keyword frequency, ngrams, topic
modelling. Tried APIs to classify likelihood of toxicity
+ Manual checks

52. https://pudding.cool/2020/07/gendered-descriptions/
https://pudding.cool/2018/07/women-in-parliament/

53. https://github.com/BBC-Data-Unit/child-speech
Counter-hypothesis checking

54. https://github.com/BBC-Data-Unit/academytransparency

56. https://github.com/BBC-Data-Unit/lockdown-gambling

57. “Proxy data [is] data which acts as a proxy for the
thing you are looking for. Air pollution data, for
example, can be a proxy for transport activity;
energy consumption data can be a proxy for
economic activity; waste collection data is a proxy
for people moving away or working elsewhere. A
spike in people dying at home can raise questions
about what that indicates. Social media chatter and
search trends are regularly used as proxies for
behaviour, too.”
https://datajournalism.com/read/longreads/brainstorm-covid-19-data-story-ideas

58. Bisiani et al (2023) The Data Journalism Workforce: Demographics, Skills, Work Practices, and Challenges in the
Aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemic

59. https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/3425413/

60. https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/6264286/

61. What next?
Parameterisation: auto-generated websites to help
partner reporters report stories in their area
Generative AI-augmented code: writing regex,
Python, etc. using ChatGPT et al.
Flourish charts: moving away from internal BBC
charts tool
Counter-hypotheses: more systematic checking

62. https://journalistsresource.org/home/confirmation-bias-strategies-to-avoid-it/

63. https://onlinejournalismblog.com/2017/08/07/10-principles-for-data-journalism-in-its-second-decade/

64. Questions?
@PaulBradshaw, Birmingham City University
Online Journalism Blog, BBC Shared data unit

65. https://datajournalism.com/read/longreads/data-journalism-ideas