Daily Trust Foundation Trains Journalists on Data Journalism in Abuja

By Emmanuel Kwada

Daily Trust Foundation with the support from the MacArthur Foundation has trained no fewer than 20 journalists selected from across the Nigerian blogosphere, print, and broadcast stations on Data Journalism to aid their investigative abilities.

The training which took place between 23 and 25 September focused on the tools for data journalism in the digital age and was facilitated by Theophilus Abbah, Ph.D., the  program Director of Daily Trust Foundation, and Damilola Ojetunde from BBC Africa Bureau, Abuja.

Dr. Abbah tasked journalists,  to be data-driven in filtering and analyzing large data sets to create, and elevate investigative reports.

“I encourage you as Journalists to always interrogate data and write impactful stories there from,” he said.

He added that data journalism reflects the increased role of numerical data in the production and distribution of information in the digital era and it will help journalists to tell impactful stories.

Dr. Abbah taught who introduced the training, taught journalists how to source data, extract critical information for quality reportage, and apply data visualization tools to produce meaningful stories.

He added that data journalism, which represented facts, would aid the public to get the right information that could be used to hold government accountable.

He also charged the participants to maximize the opportunity and show commitment to improving the standards of their storytelling with facts.

Participants at the training. Photocredit: DTF

On the other hand, Mr Damilola Ojetunde, encouraged the trainees to put in more effort in developing their skills in data journalism.

“Journalists must equip themselves with relevant knowledge to ensure effectiveness and have an edge in carrying out investigative journalism in the digital age.  The world is evolving and investigative journalism is now, so it’s a must for any journalist to know how to use data journalism tools to the advantage of their work”, he said.

Participants at the training and the Daily Trust Foundation team. Photocredit: DTF

Damilola then called on journalists to apply the knowledge of data mining, web scraping, data exploration, and visualization acquired to source critical information while respecting the ethics of the profession and also actively use the Freedom of Information Act, FOIA, to gather facts and information that will help them in their storytelling.