RJI Fellows Class of 2020–2021
This series features stories by RJI’s 2020–2021 class of fellows.
How visual metaphor helps move our data off the page
And into people’s brains It’s a new year, and as I’m nearing the end of this fellowship, it seems worth pulling the lens back a bit. We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about nuts and bolts —how to build a bot, when to opt for quick and dirty hacks over fresh code, if and … Continued
Launching a newsletter and thinking about analytics
It’s not just about clicks When we launched our obits newsletter, How They Lived, on December 8, I had one big concern: Would anyone read it? Honestly, I worry about that with everything I publish, but launching a new product so close to the holidays only amped up that worry. The beauty of making journalism … Continued
Taking a look at the Boston Globe’s “Fresh Start” program
Here are some key elements to consider Last week, the Boston Globe announced a new program to help reduce the impact of personal information found online. The Fresh Start initiative invites people to request a review of information about them in the news site’s public-facing archive, similar to some other efforts we’ve seen launched in … Continued
Pre-reporting for data journalists
A brief intro to exploratory analysis In a recent paper, a pair of statisticians took a stab at outlining “the most important statistical ideas of the past 50 years.” Among them: “counterfactual causal inference, bootstrapping and simulation-based inference, overparameterized models and regularization, multilevel models, generic computation algorithms, adaptive decision analysis, robust inference, and exploratory data … Continued
Measuring progress on inclusivity
Tracking who actually shows up in the reporting is vital to the source diversity equation in journalism.Long before Linda Miller became an inclusive media consultant for RJI, she spent a decade creating the Public Insight Network for American Public Media, a platform of thousands of people who agreed to be sources for journalists and newsrooms. … Continued
A streamlined unpublishing process is as important as thoughtful policy
An official request process and tracking form are vital — and we want to build you one.If I asked you to give me the basics of your last five unpublishing requests, could you do it? What about the last 10? Twenty? Fifty? Do you have any history about the requests that were received by the … Continued
Answering reader questions builds trust and becomes the foundation of our community and newsletter
In the coming year, we hope to grow our efforts in multiple ways, specifically to reach new communities and publish in more languages. Two weeks ago we published our third reader generated story. Readers of our WhatsApp group were regularly reaching out to send us photos of housing court documents that they had received, which … Continued
The passion for visual storytelling
Here’s my plan for documenting and sharing that passion Allow me to introduce you to Julia Robinson. Ask her to tell you about a story that made a difference and it’s like the clouds clear away and the sun begins to shine. Her passion for this profession becomes clear. Even when times are tough, when … Continued
The insults “stupid, fat, ugly” are just another day at work
The insults that hurt the most are those that imply that Latina journalists don’t belong in the news space “I have got accustomed that they call me ugly, fat, whore, stupid Puerto Rican, the N word. I’m used to the threats that they will rape me or beat me,”says Helen Ubiñas, a Boricua born in … Continued
When journalists should care about p-values
And when they shouldn’t There’s a saying in statistics: “All models are wrong, but some are useful.” In other words, it’s a little quixotic to imagine we can capture the nuances of reality with simple models, but some of these models can make the complex more legible. The first chunk of the saying is the … Continued