Expert urges journalists to embrace data journalism

A Leader, Centre for Open Data Research, Dr Patrick Enaholo, has urged Nigerian journalists to embrace Data Journalism to enhance their reporting, particularly on issues like health, nutrition and wellness reports.

Enaholo made the call at an online programme tagged: “Advancing Nutrition, Health and Wellness through the Media’, organised by Nestlé Nigeria Plc, in collaboration with the Lagos Business School.

He described data as well reasearched and objective facts based on reality, which could be in form of numbers, words or letters.

According to him, embracing Data Journalism is the way to go and the way to remain relevant in the industry.

“These days, stories are not just about the text or words, but also about data and visuals.

“This can keep the readers hooked to your news story.

“Journalists need to invest time and resources to equipping themselves with hands-on data journalism skills.

“Learning these skills will start you on the path to adding that extra punch to your news story by teaching you how to create data visualisations using available tools such as Google spread sheet, Excel, charts, infographics among others,” he said.

Enaholo, who also works at the School of Media and Communications, Pan Atlantic University, Lagos, said such knowledge would help journalists to understand how to find, interpret and analyse data to tell a news story in a clear, simple, compelling and appealing way.

He, however, urged media organisations to also embrace data visualisation in their reports to tell deep an insightful stories and for easy understanding by readers. (NAN)