What is conflict for one person might not be conflict for another; Human interest stories make data compelling, show real people behind data
NPR Huo Jingnan talks about what makes a story newsworthy and the role of data
On July 28th, HUO JINGNAN, an assistant producer on NPR's investigations team, joined Data Journalism DC to talk about what makes a data story newsworthy, share tips on how to pitch data journalism stories, and discuss data’s role in journalism today.
As an assistant producer on NPR's investigations team, Jingnan helps with reporting, research, and production both on the team and in the network. She was the primary data reporter on Coal's Deadly Dust, a project investigating black lung disease's resurgence. The project won an Edward Murrow Award and NASEM Communications award, and was nominated for a George Foster Peabody award.
On localizing data to make it newsworthy.
Provide a sense of proximity by localizing data. How can you customize the data output to fit the specific circumstances of the reader, be it demographic or location?
On conflict and newsworthiness.
What is conflict for one person or group might not be conflict for another. Daniel Hallin’s communication theory framework classifies news ideas into spheres. The challenge is that a lot of ideas might be on the border of the sphere of legitimate controversy, which is where most of the news stories will fall.
On what makes a human interest story relevant to data journalism.
Human interest stories appeal to the common human experience, to human curiosity and emotions. They have a lot to do with data journalism. They make data compelling by showing people the face behind the data
On pushing the boundaries of news delivery.
Experiment with visual newscasts, such as Alexa, for example, and ways to convey a data story on these emerging delivery formats.
You can find Jingnan on Twitter and follow her stories on NPR.
Data Journalism DC memory lane: In the NPR news segment below, Jingnan reports on state-sponsored manipulation of social media following our Data Journalism #19 where Professor Philip Howard, Director of the Oxford Internet Institute, presented on the global organization of social media manipulation:
The next Data Journalism DC program is TODAY at 5pm EST.
MITCHELL SHUEY will demo his new open-source project for news accountability advocates, journalists, and independent researchers. The presentation is aimed at both a technical and non-technical audience.
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