Not since Ross Perot’s famous TV presentations using cardboard charts have we had a national figure who uses data visualization props quite like Donald Trump. This week, Philip Bump joins Scott and Simon to talk about Trump’s use of data, and how politicians more generally approach information visuals. Plus, they discuss Philip’s background, how he measures success as a solo blogger, and the future of AI in data journalism.
Philip Bump was a columnist at the Washington Post for more than a decade, where he wrote the newsletter “How To Read This Chart.” Since leaving the Post, he’s continued to cover data in all kinds of interesting ways on his blog, pbump.net. His 2023 book, The Aftermath, covered the future of power as the baby boom generation recedes.
Work mentioned in the episode:
Monty Hall problem simulator (more info on the Monty Hall problem here)
Philip’s coverage of Trump’s immigration chart from May 2024 and October 2024
The music this episode, made with TwoTone, represents votership in US presidential elections since 1856. The Data Journalism Podcast is produced by Ozzy Llinas Goodman.
Do you have a new data-driven story or project coming up? Tell us about it at datajournalismpodcast@gmail.com, and we might feature it on the show. Subscribe to make sure you never miss an episode!
Data analysis is at an inflection point, with new technologies entering the field, and increasingly more practitioners working outside of journalism. This week, Alberto, Simon and Scott reflect on how they got into data journalism, and what’s changed over the years. They discuss how each of their career paths took them into newsrooms — and then out of them again — and identify key takeaways for those looking to get into data visualization today.
The music this episode, made with TwoTone, represents Google searches for the word "webmaster" over time. The Data Journalism Podcast is produced by Ozzy Llinas Goodman.
Do you have a new data-driven story or project coming up? Tell us about it at datajournalismpodcast@gmail.com, and we might feature it on the show. Subscribe to make sure you never miss an episode!
Outlier is a one-of-a-kind conference, held annually by the Data Visualization Society. This year it was hosted at the University of Miami, where our very own Alberto gave the closing keynote. In this special episode, Scott and Simon chat with Alberto about the conference, his keynote, and the state of the data visualization industry today.
The music this episode, made with TwoTone, represents Google searches for the word “outlier” over time. The Data Journalism Podcast is produced by Ozzy Llinas Goodman.
Do you have a new data-driven story or project coming up? Tell us about it at datajournalismpodcast@gmail.com, and we might feature it on the show. Subscribe to make sure you never miss an episode!
“40 Acres and a Lie” tells the true story behind the Civil War–era “40 acres and a mule” program. It was the result of over two years of painstaking research by Alexia Fernández Campbell, April Simpson and Pratheek Rebala. The project won a Sigma Award and a Philip Meyer Data Journalism Award, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in explanatory reporting.
Alexia, April and Pratheek join Alberto, Scott and Simon to share their research process in detail. They explain how they used historical data to identify breaking news, and how genealogical tools helped them find living descendants of those impacted by the program.
The music this episode, made with TwoTone, represents historical US Census data on ethnicity over time. The Data Journalism Podcast is produced by Ozzy Llinas Goodman. Subscribe to make sure you never miss an episode!
Cheryl Phillips is Hearst Professional in Residence at Stanford University’s journalism program, and founder of Big Local News, which empowers journalists with data – and has twice been on Pulitzer prize winning news teams. Now she has devoted herself to empowering journalists with access to the data they need to tell great stories.
She joins Alberto, Scott and Simon to discuss the state of public data in the US in 2025, and what her team is doing about it.
The music this episode, made with TwoTone, represents the Dow Jones Industrial Index in the week before we recorded this podcast. See if you can guess what happens to it at the end.
The Data Journalism Podcast is edited by Ozzy Llinas Goodman. Subscribe to make sure you never miss an episode.
Key links from this episode:
New York Times: “How Tariffs Work”
Reuters: “Tariffs don’t all act the same”
Chiqui Esteban is Design & Art Director at the Washington Post Opinion section.
In the first episode with new co-host Scott Klein, he talks to us about the lessons he's learned during his amazing career, from his early days as a student at a famous visual journalism program in Spain all the way to running the Washington Post’s graphics desk, one of the best in the world —and beyond.
Chiqui talks about how data journalism and graphics help news stay relevant — and popular—with audiences.
The music this episode, made with TwoTone, represents attendence at Chiqui's beloved Cadiz CF football club games. See if you can spot something a little extra in it too.
It was a year in which a Presidential candidate said a chart saved his life, generative AI changed journalism and we worried about whether the field is getting less innovative.
Scott Klein is an entrepreneur in residence at Newspack, helping publishers on WordPress and other platforms do great election coverage by building and adopting innovative tools and by working together. He was previously at ProPublica and at THE CITY. He’s also on the board of Muckrock. He’s based in Brooklyn.
The music this episode, made with TwoTone, represents snowfall in NYC's Central Park.
David Spiegelhalter is Emeritus Professor of Statistics in the Statistical Laboratory, University of Cambridge and author of new book The Art of Uncertainty
We live in chaotic times and David makes that world a little clearer with humour and clarity in this special interview with Alberto and Simon.
The music this episode, made with TwoTone, comes from David, and represents the death rates of the patients of murderer Dr Harold Shipman.
Kae Petrin is a data and graphics reporting at Chalkbeat, Votebeat, and Healthbeat, where they produce stories on education and voting rights. Kae is also a co-founder and part of the leadership of the Trans Journalists Association.
In the episode we discuss Kae's work, their view of beat-centric news organizations, and the challenges of K-12 education data.
The music this episode, made with TwoTone, comes from Kae, and represents truancy rates by different demographic groups.
Garrett Archer is the data analyst at ABC15 in Phoenix, Arizona, where he is a data storyteller and one of the foremost experts on Arizona's election system. As America votes, Garrett will be responsible for reporting the facts in one of the most tightly-fought US elections for decades.
Find out how he approaches election data, what makes it different to polling reporting and what will happen on election day in the key swing state on November 5.
The music this episode, made with TwoTone, is from Garrett and represents Arizona party registrations over time.
Sisi Wei is the Chief Impact Officer at CalMatters & The Markup, based in New York. Sisi founded the DEI Coalition For Anti-Racist, Equitable, And Just Newsrooms and was the Assistant Managing Editor at ProPublica. She has also won the Gwen Ifill Award.
Alberto chats with Sisi about her work and how she approaches telling stories with data.
The music this episode, made with TwoTone, is from Sisi and represents the temperature in NYC in June 2024
Garance Burke is a global investigative reporter for the Associated Press, with a focus on reporting around Artificial Intelligence. She wrote the chapter of the AP style guide around reporting on AI and leads a team which works with data to tell stories every day. She joins Simon and Alberto to discuss the implications for data journalism.
The music this episode, made with TwoTone, is from Garance and represents Bills brought before Congress around AI over time.
How does the Pulitzer Center create such great data journalism? Alberto and Simon are joined by Doménica Montaño, the Center's program coordinator for environmental investigations. Working with terrific data journalists like director Gustavo Faleiros and Kuek Ser Kuang Keng, the team produces groundbreaking data work. Doménica explains what it takes to make that work come to life.
The music this episode, made with TwoTone, is based on tree cover in Brazil.
Dan Kopf and Nami Sumida join Simon and Alberto to discuss how the SF Chronicle tells data stories, such as Sumida's recent exploration of the city's Japantown (sub required) and the WW2 internment that nearly destroyed it. The team discuss what makes the Bay Area such a rich source of data journalism and how the Chron approaches it each day.
The music this episode, made with TwoTone, is US Berkeley’s in-state acceptance rate.
Anna Brand is the Managing Editor for Data and Graphics at CNN Digital. She chats with Simon and Alberto about building a data journalism team at the news outlet, explains how it works and what inspires her.
The music this week, made with TwoTone, is based on the data behind this CNN Digital story about Halloween candy.
It’s a different kind of podcast this week: Simon and Alberto talk about Alberto’s latest book, The Art of Insight, why data journalism is still a dream job and our approaches to working with numbers to tell stories. Find out what books got us here - and what we care about most, when it comes to data storytelling.
The music this week, made with TwoTone, is based on snowfall in Central Park from 1869 from this dataset, via weather.gov.
Attila Bátorfy is a data journalist operating in Viktor Orbán's Hungary, heading up ATLO and pioneering the field in the country as a teacher and practitioner. Find out why he believes Hungary is the country to watch for data storytelling.
Music by TwoTone, based on data about rising Hungary's falling population. You can hear the full (long) track here.
The Guardian's Pamela Duncan and Ashley Kirk join Simon to talk about how data journalism has changed since he was there, how the news organisation works today and what is coming next.
Music by TwoTone, based on data from this story about rising surface temperatures. You can hear the full (long) track here.
Alan Smith is a rare breed: he leads the FT's team of data reporters and designers, but has a background in the stuffy world of official statistics as former head of digital content at the UK's Office for National Statistics. Alan is also author of How Charts Work, a handbook on designing with data using the FT's principles.
He chats with Simon and Alberto about his approach to data journalism and how to make numbers accessible for everyone.
This week we meet data journalist Eunice Magwambo, whose team has trained over 2,000 journalists in data journalism and visualisation and is part of a new movement of talented data reporters in the region. She talks about how data journalism in Africa is different, the appetite for data-led stories and the importance of sharing those visuals.
You can find more of Eunice's work here.