Journalists advised to use data in their reportage

By Belinda Ayamgha, GNA
Accra, May 5, GNA - Ms Juliet Amoah, Strategic Director at Penplusbytes, has expressed the need for economic journalists to be able to go beyond the rhetoric to bring out hidden stories in data that they acquire in the course of their work

She noted that the role of economic journalists, especially in an election year could not be overemphasised as they could drive issues-based discussions using the data that they work with.

Speaking at the opening of a day's Data Journalism workshop for journalists organised by Penplusbytes in partnership with the Institute of Financial and Economic Journalists (IFEJ) and the Highway Africa Centre, she noted that data journalism could enable journalists to tell more compelling stories by drawing out trends and visualising the information in the data for their audiences.

'That's the way journalism is going, taking the data and fitting the stories to your audiences. It important that journalists are able to tell stories from the data available to them,' she stated.

The workshop gave participants an introduction into data journalism as well as the tools and resources available to help them develop well-crafted an easy-to-understand stories from business and financial data.

It covered areas including the definition of data journalism and its difference from traditional journalism.

Miss Precious Ankomah, Programme Manager for New Media Innovations at Penplusbytes stated: 'Data Journalism is fast becoming the industry standard. Media persons in other countries have discovered the vast audiences that can be reached by combining the traditional news, technology based information searches and this is something Ghanaian journalists too need to enhance accuracy and professionalism in their field of work.'

GNA