Data for Journalists
A Practical Guide for Computer-Assisted Reporting
6th Edition
Published on 5. February 2026
252 pages
978-1-040-70407-3 (ISBN)
Description
Now in its sixth edition, Data for Journalists is a straightforward and effective guide to using data for news stories.
This concise textbook addresses all the key basic skills that data journalists need, including how to find and scrape data, how to build a database, how to visualize data, and how to use spreadsheets and database managers - before launching into coding and more advanced analysis. Alongside step-by-step instructions on beginning data analysis, Houston discusses why these digital tools should be an integral part of reporting in the present day. Thoroughly revised and updated, this sixth edition features a new chapter on data visualization as well as new material on using free software such as Google Sheets and Datawrapper.
Emphasizing that journalists are accountable for the accuracy and relevance of the data they acquire and share, particularly if artificial intelligence is involved, this is an ideal core text for courses on data-driven journalism and computer-assisted reporting.
This concise textbook addresses all the key basic skills that data journalists need, including how to find and scrape data, how to build a database, how to visualize data, and how to use spreadsheets and database managers - before launching into coding and more advanced analysis. Alongside step-by-step instructions on beginning data analysis, Houston discusses why these digital tools should be an integral part of reporting in the present day. Thoroughly revised and updated, this sixth edition features a new chapter on data visualization as well as new material on using free software such as Google Sheets and Datawrapper.
Emphasizing that journalists are accountable for the accuracy and relevance of the data they acquire and share, particularly if artificial intelligence is involved, this is an ideal core text for courses on data-driven journalism and computer-assisted reporting.
More details
Edition
6th edition
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Reflowable
Illustrations
7 Tables, black and white; 168 Halftones, black and white; 168 Illustrations, black and white
File size
36,15 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-040-70407-3 (9781040704073)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
approx. 02/2026
6th Edition
Routledge
€64.70
Not yet published
Book
approx. 02/2026
6th Edition
Routledge
€211.40
Not yet published
Previous edition
E-Book
12/2018
5th Edition
Routledge
€60.99
Available for download
Person
Brant Houston is a Professor and the Knight Chair in Investigative Reporting at the University of Illinois, where he teaches journalism and oversees an online newsroom. An award-winning journalist, he was an investigative reporter at U.S. newspapers for 17 years. For more than a decade, he served as executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors, a now 6,000-member association headquartered at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, where he also taught investigative and data reporting. Houston has conducted more than 400 seminars for professional journalists and students in 30 countries, and he is a co-founder of networks of nonprofit newsrooms and educators throughout the world.
Content
Preface
Features
New to this Edition
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1: What Data Journalism and Computer-Assisted Reporting Is and Why Journalists Use It
Chapter 2: Online Resources: Researching and Finding Data on the Internet
Chapter 3: Getting Data Not on the Web: How to Find and Negotiate for Data
Chapter 4: Building Your Own Database: How to Develop Exclusive Sources
Chapter 5: Spreadsheets, Part 1: Basic Math and Data Analysis for Journalists
Chapter 6: Spreadsheets, Part 2: More Math that Matters
Chapter 7: The Database Manager, Part 1: Searching and Summarizing
Chapter 8: Database Managers, Part 2: Matchmaking and Advanced Queries
Chapter 9: Basic Data Visualization: Charts, Maps, and Social Network Analysis
Chapter 10: Dirty Data: How to Fact Check Your Data and Clean It
Chapter 11: How to Report and Write with Data
Appendix A: Unstructured Data: Analyzing Text and Social Media
Appendix B: Coding and Artificial Intelligence
Selected Bibliography
Glossary
Index
Features
New to this Edition
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1: What Data Journalism and Computer-Assisted Reporting Is and Why Journalists Use It
Chapter 2: Online Resources: Researching and Finding Data on the Internet
Chapter 3: Getting Data Not on the Web: How to Find and Negotiate for Data
Chapter 4: Building Your Own Database: How to Develop Exclusive Sources
Chapter 5: Spreadsheets, Part 1: Basic Math and Data Analysis for Journalists
Chapter 6: Spreadsheets, Part 2: More Math that Matters
Chapter 7: The Database Manager, Part 1: Searching and Summarizing
Chapter 8: Database Managers, Part 2: Matchmaking and Advanced Queries
Chapter 9: Basic Data Visualization: Charts, Maps, and Social Network Analysis
Chapter 10: Dirty Data: How to Fact Check Your Data and Clean It
Chapter 11: How to Report and Write with Data
Appendix A: Unstructured Data: Analyzing Text and Social Media
Appendix B: Coding and Artificial Intelligence
Selected Bibliography
Glossary
Index
