USA TODAY/usatoday.com, is looking for a Data Reporter with a track record of using data in innovative ways to drive investigative enterprise, tell stories in non-traditional forms and deliver quick-turn enterprise off the news. We are looking for a data expert who is a reporter at heart, who relishes discovering new and creative approaches to obtain, create, edit, analyze and otherwise use data to tell stories, right wrongs and provide insights that surprise and empower readers. After examining a new dataset, you should be able to quickly articulate what you find amazing in it and what you would need to develop your initial findings into a publishable story.
Responsibilities:
- You will need to execute the technical work of harnessing the power of data
- But just as importantly, you will need to be able to “interview” the data, draw conclusions, and help test those conclusions through traditional reporting methods
- You will be called on to support your data, investigations and enterprise teammates and reporters around the newsroom as an active contributor to group discussions and paired problem-solving
- Obtain and analyze government and commercially available data to break revelatory enterprise and investigative stories for use nationally and locally, across the USA TODAY NETWORK
- Collaborate with, lead and inspire journalists nationwide to build exclusive, custom data sets
- Collaborate with data visualization and digital storytelling experts to turn data into the best storytelling formats – whether graphics, data stories, interactives or some medium we’ve never seen before or even dreamed up
- Help generate ideas for data-driven stories, visualizations and quicker-turn pieces
- Work with other journalists and developers to drive innovation and capitalize on alternative story forms
- Report and write original enterprise, investigative and quick-turn data stories in various formats, on your own and as part of a team of journalists
- Use your keen sense of where to find existing data and relentlessly negotiate for data that’s not easy to get
Qualifications:
- After examining a new dataset, you should be able to quickly articulate what you find amazing in it and what you would need to develop your initial findings into a publishable story
- We want a creative thinker who sees data analysis not as an end in itself, but as a tool to answer interesting and important questions
- You would be working on USA TODAY Network’s most ambitious investigative work as well as with reporters from across the USA TODAY newsroom – and across Gannett newspapers nationwide – to partner on a variety of short and long-term enterprise
- We want data reporters who are as comfortable talking to people as they are with cleaning a messy CSV file
- You should be able to think creatively, and fast, about building data sets from inconsistent records across many jurisdictions and help others do so
- Bachelor’s or master’s degree in journalism or any other subject or an equivalent combination of education and experience
- At least five years of experience as a reporter for a daily news media organization, including a proven track record of collaboration on major enterprise or data projects
- Proven ability and willingness to juggle long- and short-term projects
- Demonstrable experience obtaining and analyzing data to drive content creation
- Mastery of a leading analytical toolset such as Pandas or R and sharing your work in notebook form
- Comfort with statistics, a variety of data cleaning tools and at least some aspects of GIS
Salary: $72,000.00 to $161,000.00 per annum.
When you apply, don’t limit your upload to a resume; show us what you’ve done. To do so, put together a single document file that includes the following, in this order:
- Your resume – one to two pages.
- A cover letter that outlines how why you are interested in the role and how you would approach this role at USA TODAY.
- Links to 3-6 online samples of your work.
For further details click here.
