Debugging the backlash to data journalism | Tow Center for Digital Journalism

While the craft and context that underlies “data journalism” is well-known to anyone who knows the history of computer-assisted reporting (CAR), the term itself is a much more recent creation.

This past week, data journalism broke into the hurly burly of mainstream discourse, with the predictable cycle of hype and then backlash, for two reasons:

What do you think?

1)  The launch of Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight this past week, where he explicitly laid out his vision for data journalism in a manifesto on “what the fox knows.” He groups statistical analysis, data visualization, computer programming and “data-literate reporting” under the rubric of data journalism.

2) A story in USA Today on the booming market for data journalists and the scoops and audiences they create and enable. The “news nerd job“ openings at both born-digital and traditional media institutions shows clear demand across the industry.

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There are several points that I think are worth making in light of these two stories.

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