Data Journalism

Who's heard the saying that journalists are bad at math? You're in communication because you like telling stories, you like interacting with people, You don't want to deal with figures and statistics. I would guess that a small percent of you love math. You aced it in high school. High marks in AP calculus. Median, mode, range, all those terms, you're comfortable with. Then there's majority of people in this room who I'd guess is just "mere acquaintances with" math. You can have a polite conversation with it and move on with your life. No big deal. And then there's the people who are terrified of it. If you see it across the street, you pretend not to see it and keep walking and pray math doesn't see you. But you don't need to be afraid of math and by extension, data. That gap between those who love it and those who avoid it is unacceptable in this technologically advanced world we live in. We all have an innate ability to understand math and data. You know if your one meal at dinner is more expensive than the other. You know that you need to get a particular grade on an upcoming exam to pass a class. At the end of this talk, you will all appreciate data journalism. I know you're skeptical, after all, you're journalists or journalism-adjacent majors. Mumbles, "Yes, well, I don't know ANdrew, if your mother says she loves you, check it out." And that's fine. That's healthy. But never underestimate yourselves. If you tell yourself that you're no good at math then that becomes directly or indirectly true because you've already deemed it so. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.