What Is Data Literacy?

Abstract

Decades after the public journalism movement attempted to redefine the relationship between news outlets and the communities they cover, local journalists are still grappling with how best to cultivate audiences in civic spaces. Community news providers—battling against diminished levels of trust in media institutions—are seeking to counter these sentiments by building closer partnerships with their readers. In this light, data journalism is often heralded for its ability to coalesce fragmented audiences in conversation around salient civic issues. Yet despite its promise, successful storytelling requires basic data literacy skills on behalf of both practitioners and the public. To understand the story, all parties must understand the data. This chapter tackles programmatic efforts to address societal shortfalls in data knowledge and accessibility across the news production/consumption spectrum (with an emphasis on journalism experiments in community news).