Data journalism is often discussed with a national or international journalism angle, but it can have a great impact on a local level as well.
In this post on Mediashift, Damian Radcliffe, Carolyn S. Chambers Professor in Journalism at the University of Oregon, offers five tips for using data in your local reporting, adapted from a chapter from a book called Data Journalism: Inside the Global Future.
Radcliffe points out that data cannot stand alone, and that journalists need to add more analysis and interpretation to their stories. He also offers suggestions of data sources, such as the FixMyStreet platform.
Overall, Radcliffe summarises that each story is unique, and some articles do not require an element of data journalism. Therefore it is important to reflect when readers benefit from it.
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