Reporters in the newsroom are becoming more involved in computer-assisted reporting and online news research than ever before. This edition introduces readers to computer-assisted reporting and to describe how leading journalists are using personal computers for news gathering in modern print, broadcast, and online newsrooms. It provides a thorough discussion of technology and its applications to news reporting. Computer Assisted Reporting focuses on the computerization of newsgathering, highlighting the fact that the computer assists journalists by making writing easier, and also makes gathering and organizing information more efficient. As it begins, the book demonstrates methods for journalists to get more from their computers, such as data retrieval, data analysis, information storage, and dissemination of that information in both processed and unprocessed forms. It concludes with a refined proposal, originally proposed in the first edition, for five stages for development of computer literacy in the newsroom.

While demystifying the use of the computer as a tool in reporting methods, Introduction to Computer-Assisted Reporting maintains that a computer is only supplemental to the traditional values of good journalism.

This straightforward and effective how-to guide provides the basics for any journalist or student beginning to use data for news stories. It has step-by-step instructions on how to do basic data analysis in journalism while addressing why these digital tools should be an integral part of reporting in the 21st century. The book pays particular attention to the need for accuracy in computer-assisted reporting and to both the potential and pitfalls in utilizing large datasets in journalism. An ideal core text for courses on data-driven journalism or computer-assisted reporting, Houston pushes back on current trends by helping current and future journalists become more accountable for the accuracy and relevance of the data they acquire and share. Online instructor's materials are available to adopting professors, and additional exercises are available free online to students at the below address: http://ire.org/carbook/ username: carbook password: carbook4

This straightforward and effective how-to guide provides the basics for any reporter or journalism student beginning to use data for news stories. It has step-by-step instructions on how to do basic data analysis in journalism while addressing why these digital tools should be an integral part of reporting in the 21st century. In an ideal core text for courses on data-driven journalism or computer-assisted reporting, Houston emphasizes that journalists are accountable for the accuracy and relevance of the data they acquire and share. With a refreshed design, this updated new edition includes expanded coverage on social media, scraping data from the web, and text-mining, and provides journalists with the tips and tools they need for working with data.

Computers have changed the landscape of both gathering and disseminating information throughout the world. As journalists quickly move toward the 21st century and perhaps, a new era of electronic journalism, resources are needed to understand the newest and most successful computer-based news reporting strategies. Written to serve that purpose, this book is designed to show both professional journalists and students which of the newest personal computing tools are being used by the nation's leading news organizations and top individual journalists. It further describes how these resources are being used on a daily basis and for special projects. In recent years, computers have taken on new and dominating roles in the process of news analysis, newsgathering, and news processing. Today's forward-thinking journalists often seek guidance over what they can do to strengthen their ability to be society's information processors and managers. This volume focuses upon how successful journalists are using computers through a major national computer-assisted reporting (CAR) study of daily newspapers. The study included two national surveys and a series of personal interviews with many of the nation's leading CAR specialists. Several current examples of stories used for successful database- and online-oriented news assignments are provided as part of a series of case studies incorporated throughout the book. The additional depth of description and the presentation of portions of stories themselves should help readers to understand the complete process involving CAR-oriented journalism. Substantial analytical detail is used to discuss the extent of computer use in newsrooms, computer training, CAR projects, CAR in daily reporting, hardware and software most commonly used, levels and types of online services used in news research, and portable hardware and software. The book concludes with the author's assessment of the effects and impact of personal computing in the newsroom and the future of personal computer applications in newsgathering. Explaining and defining advanced applications or terminology for readers, the approach to the book assumes a minimal familiarity with computers, but no advanced knowledge of computer operation.

Philip Meyer's work in precision journalism established a new and ongoing trend-the use by reporters of social science research techniques to increase the depth and accuracy of major stories. In this fully updated, fourth edition of the classic Precision Journalism (known as The New Precision Journalism in its third edition), Meyer shows journalists and students of journalism how to use new technology to analyze data and provide more precise information in easier-to-understand forms. New to this edition are an overview of the use of theory and science in journalism; game theory applications; introductions to lurking variables and multiple and logistic regression; and developments in election surveys. Key topics retained and updated include elements of data analysis; the use of statistics, computers, surveys, and experiments; database applications; and the politics of precision journalism. This accessible book is an important resource for working journalists and an indispensable text for all journalism majors.

Conducting computer analyses for the purposes of revealing information of significance to the press represents an extension of one of the most important forms of American journalism into the contemporary era of new technologies. Investigative reporting had its start with the establishment of the metropolitan newspaper during the early decades of the 1900s. At the time, it was a continuation of the evolving tradition of freedom of the press that had characterized American political life since colonial times. As it developed, investigative reporting stressed facts rather than the opinions of the editor or reporter. In turn, that tradition had its own intellectual roots. Today, computer-assisted investigative reporting (CAIR) extends that "marketplace of ideas" into systematic examinations of the electronic records of government. In addition, computer analyses of other kinds of information systematically gathered by journalists can provide the press with insights into trends and patterns unlikely to be revealed by other means. This unique volume addresses procedures and issues in investigative journalism that have not been explained in other publications. It sets forth -- for the first time -- a detailed and specific methodology for conducting computer-assisted investigative analyses of both large and small scale electronic records of government and other agencies. That methodology consists of the logic of inquiry, strategies for reaching valid conclusions, and rules for reporting what has been revealed by the analyses to the public in clear ways. Such systematic methodologies are essential in social and other sciences and the development of a counterpart for investigative journalism has been badly needed. That systematic methodology is developed within a context that explains the origin and major characteristics of those elements that have come together in American society to make computer-assisted investigative reporting both possible and increasingly a part of standard newsroom practices. These include the development of traditional investigative journalism, the evolution of computer technology, the use of computers by government to keep records, the legal evolution of freedom of information laws, the rapid adoption of computers in newsrooms, the increasing importance of precision journalism, and the sharp increase in recent times of computer-assisted investigative reporting by American newspapers both large and small. The issues addressed in this book are discussed in a very readable context with an abundance of examples and illustrations drawn from the real world of journalism as it is practiced daily in newsrooms around the country. Explanations of concepts, principles, and procedures are set forth in layperson's terms that require very little in the way of knowledge of computers or statistical methods.

This dictionary includes over 1,400 entries covering terminology related to the practice, business, and technology of journalism, as well as its concepts and theories, institutions, publications, and key events. An essential companion for all students taking courses in Journalism and Journalism Studies, as well as related subjects.

When you combine the sheer scale and range of digital information now available with a journalist’s "nose for news" and her ability to tell a compelling story, a new world of possibility opens up. With The Data Journalism Handbook, you’ll explore the potential, limits, and applied uses of this new and fascinating field. This valuable handbook has attracted scores of contributors since the European Journalism Centre and the Open Knowledge Foundation launched the project at MozFest 2011. Through a collection of tips and techniques from leading journalists, professors, software developers, and data analysts, you’ll learn how data can be either the source of data journalism or a tool with which the story is told—or both. Examine the use of data journalism at the BBC, the Chicago Tribune, the Guardian, and other news organizations Explore in-depth case studies on elections, riots, school performance, and corruption Learn how to find data from the Web, through freedom of information laws, and by "crowd sourcing" Extract information from raw data with tips for working with numbers and statistics and using data visualization Deliver data through infographics, news apps, open data platforms, and download links