Reporters in the age of data journalism

In the past, journalists were responsible for reporting the news. But today news stories disseminate as the incidents unfold, from multiple sources. Thus, gathering, filtering and visualizing events has a growing value. Huge amounts of data are available, but exploiting them is not an easy task. Data journalism can be defined as a journalism speciality in which numerical data are used in the production and distribution of information. This article investigates the necessary skills that journalists must have in order to cope with data journalism. More precisely, it defines data journalism, and discusses journalists’ Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills, as well as the necessary skills for supporting data journalism. Special attention is given to Web 3.0 and open data that can play an important role in data journalism. A survey conducted among professional journalists in Greece concerning data journalism is also presented and discussed.