Data Journalism

“In God we trust. All others (must) have data.”
-           Dr.Bernard Fisher

In the Internet Age, it was only a matter of time before someone decided to try data journalism. Data what? Nate Silver, founder of FiveThirtyEight (that's the number of seats in the electoral college of the US; and Silver got all 50 states right during the election, hence the name) explained the concept in his site manifesto:
“These include statistical analysis, but also data visualization, computer programming and data-literate reporting. So in addition to written stories, we’ll have interactive graphics and features...We’ll share data and code on Github.”

So where would data journalism be different that “traditional” journalism?
“While the first two steps of the process (collecting and organizing information in the form of news stories) are thought to fall within the province of “objective” journalism, explanatory journalism is sometimes placed in the category of “opinion journalism.”...A more data-centric approach is perhaps most helpful, however, when it comes to the fourth step, generalization.”

Leon Wieseltirer has no love for this new approach:
“(Silver) dignifies only facts. He honors only investigative journalism, explanatory journalism, and data journalism.”
and adds:
“Many of the issues that we debate are not issues of fact but issues of value. There is no numerical answer to the question of whether men should be allowed to marry men, and the question of whether the government should help the weak, and the question of whether we should intervene against genocide. And so the intimidation by quantification practiced by Silver and the other data mullahs must be resisted.”

Michael Brendan Dougherty defends the Silver style:
“Wieseltier's form of critique has been paraphrased elsewhere: Numbers can't tell us everything...This is a truism pretending to contradict something.”
After all, he asks, isn't there a need for data journalism at times?
“A world where businesses file public documents with the SEC means we need some business journalists experienced in reading a 10-K, not just in regurgitating industry hype. Similarly, in a world drowning in new data, collected everywhere, it's worthwhile to have journalists who are trained in making sense of it.”

In any case, isn't variety (of news types) the spice of life? So I am sure Silver will find an audience, one that subscribes to his line:
“It’s time for us to start making the news a little nerdier.”

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