Journalists like data and we like journalists

Since Swivel Preview launched just over a year ago, we have been watching closely as newspapers, magazines and blogs have increased their use of data. This has resulted in some very creative and beautiful uses of visualizations by journalists to tell their story.

Journalism is changing. Journalists may now go to print faster than ever before, either in traditional publications via their online version, or in the 'citizen journalism' blogging space. Research, writing, and publishing can all happen in a few minutes instead of days or weeks. With journalists having easy access to data and analysis tools we hope to see more of this.

And as the demand from journalists increases, we are observing an increased willingness among data providers to be more creative about how they are giving access in the first place.  This is a good trend where both sides benefit. Journalists are able to give compelling evidence and data providers see their data used more broadly, potentially impacting more people.

We were thrilled to see this recent post on the topic by Matt Croyden at Postneo. We also welcome The Poynter Institute as a new Swivel Official Source joining groups like the Newspaper Association of America. And we’d love to hear your take on the trend as well as links to any particularly interesting newsworthy visualizations you have seen recently.