June 25th, 2009 | by Derek Willis | published in Journalism
It’s good to see recent writings on the importance of training and skill development for journalists. One of the common responses to such entreaties is exemplified in this comment, which includes this plea: “I understand the need to bolster one’s skill set. But what happened to the days when we actually, you know, worried about [...]
June 2nd, 2009 | by Derek Willis | published in Journalism, Teaching
I’ve been at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University since last week, talking to faculty members about using data management and analysis tools (spreadsheets, databases, mapping) in their courses. When they asked me to provide some training on Excel and Access, I agreed, but asked for the chance to make a case for [...]
December 10th, 2008 | by Derek Willis | published in Journalism, SLA
Update: The Miami Herald’s obituary for Liz. Liz Donovan, one of the best news researchers ever, died of lung cancer in Gainesville, Ga. Truly a pioneer among news librarians, she was instrumental in everything from research for Woodward and Bernstein during Watergate to embracing (and leading other researchers to adopt) the use of blogs, wikis [...]
September 23rd, 2008 | by Derek Willis | published in Journalism
Ok, I love the fact that CBS Radio’s Mark Knoller keeps such good tabs on presidential travel, but can somebody please come up with a backup plan in case, heaven forbid, Knoller gets hit by a bus or something? Is this too much to ask of WH reporters? This is the kind of thing where [...]
September 21st, 2008 | by Derek Willis | published in Journalism
One of the things I try to stress to students in my computer-assisted reporting class at GW each spring is the difference between a story based largely on anecdotes or temporal observation and the same story with the addition of a definitive analysis of data. The LIRR story in today’s Times by Walt Bogdanich, Andy [...]