Data journalism, or data-driven journalism is a new trend: think of it as investigative reporting meets big data. Yes, that’s right–many journalists are starting to develop data analysis, data mining, and even machine learning skills (one powerful way could be with Weka). What data can journalists get their hands on? Well, a lot (and that’s not even counting WikiLeaks). In the U.S., there is the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), where any member of the public can request information from government agencies (somerestrictions apply, of course). With these and other data, journalists are really able to dig into stories and provide compelling evidence to back up some of their claims.

Professor Stephen Doig, Knight Chair of Journalism at Arizona State University, is one of five instructors of an upcoming MOOC: Doing Journalism with Data: First Steps, Skills, and Tools), which starts May 19, 2014, and is hosted by the European Journalism Centre. This course is good for professional or amateur journalists, or even interested news readers, who want to understand how to incorporate data analyses into news stories.

Charlie Chung of Class Central conducted an interview with Professor Stephen Doig, where he talks about the role of data analysis in journalism, which can be seen in this article in MOOC News+Reviews. If data journalism is interest to you, check out the MOOC!