Journalists learn how data enhance stories |04 September 2015
African journalists from across the region got the chance to acquire new skills in story writing through a data journalism workshop in South Africa sponsored by Barclays Africa Group in association with Highway Africa conference.
Held at Africa Media Metrix of Rhodes University in Grahamstown, the three-day workshop focused on how journalists can enhance their articles through data-driven story-telling by precisely and effectively using Google Search for searching data through credible websites; by collecting and analysing the data in Spreadsheet and then the visualisation process through Google Fusion Table and Tableau. These softwares create interactive maps or graphs illustrating the findings of each type of data – for example biggest cities; largest population; number of people or objects etc.
But for journalists data journalism is about putting the story first then adding value and depth to their stories through data.
“You need to have a topic first before deciding on searching for data,” said Peter Verweij, the workshop trainer who is also a very experienced journalist himself.
After 30 years of lecturing and training at the School of Journalism at Utrecht in journalism, politics and new media, Mr Verweij started in 2005 his own company D3-Media, which focuses on production of journalistic content for multi-media and blogs; research in the area of new media such as convergence and social network analysis; training and coaching of journalists and newsrooms about data mining, computer assisted research and reporting, multi-media production and digital; consultancy about newsroom management and work flow in converged newsrooms; assistance and consultancy using open source software in a journalistic environment story telling.
The journalists were also taught how to use Google Search more precisely and more effectively when doing their search instead of just launching themselves in Google Search ending with millions of websites coming up.
Barclays Africa Group also sponsored the journalists to the Highway Africa 2015 conference, a platform where journalists and media practitioners from the African continent meet.
Barclays Africa Group, which has been associated with the Highway Africa Conference for the past thirteen years, has just made this major investment in the training of journalists across Africa.
Speaking at the close of the 19th Rhodes University-hosted conference, Webster Malido, head of communications, Africa Regions – Barclays Africa said: “The signing of this three-year sponsorship agreement with Rhodes University underscores our commitment to building the capacity of African journalists in technical skills that would enable them to tell stories based on large volumes of data.
“Our 13-year partnership with Rhodes University through Highway Africa reiterates our commitment to the economic and social development of the continent. With a presence in 12 African countries, our association with this event adds impetus to our goal of becoming the ‘Go-To’ bank on the continent.”
He added the pan-Africa financial services group will host an annual Data Journalism Master Class at Rhodes University where the journalism programme provides mid-career business journalists with a high-level refresher course to report on complex financial matters.
The ten journalists from Botswana, Egypt, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Uganda, Seychelles, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe who have just completed their training in capital markets, sovereign debt, cleaning and visualising data, were part of that financial institution’s new sponsorship.
The annual Highway Africa conference brings together over 400 media professionals from across Africa. This year’s theme is Journalism and the City and the conference explored how city-based media tells the stories of urbanisation, sustainable growth and spatial planning.
Media leaders who have made significant contributions towards African media and co-founders of Highway Africa were awarded during one of the conference receptions.