What exactly is a computer-assisted reporter?
Does this imply that most reporters are not assisted by computers in their reporting?
That might explain why some reporters are kicking and screaming to stay in the 20th century. 
Maybe we need a better term for journalists who analyze and use data to report and help others report.
Just a thought
May 28th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Not many typewriter-assisted reporting specialists these days, I guess. It’s like calling newspapers newspapers, really. Inaccurate and/or obsolete, perhaps, but not going away in the foreseeable future. Phil Meyer has called it precision journalism for many years. I’ve also heard data-driven reporting, analytical journalism, advanced reporting and even just the new definition of investigative reporting.
The notion of calling it something else seems to crop up every few years on the NICAR listserv, but the discussion usually comes around to “who cares what we call it as long as we do it.” It would be nice if we could just call it reporting, full stop, and expect every journalist to at least be capable with spreadsheets, math, stats, public records law and maybe a little SQL and GIS, in addition to all the necessary traditional skills. But for now, using a distinct term for it, regardless of the term itself, conveys the reality that these are still relatively scarce, valuable and sought-after skills.
May 28th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
I was thinking of making a post (or at least some Twitter comments) about how every real reporter should have some math and analytical skills.
Think about how many people list on their resumes that they know Word or InCopy or Word Processing. I’d like someone to show me a college graduate who doesn’t have those skills. I’d be much more interested in seeing spreadsheets, Excel, etc on a person’s resume.
I understand the need for database experts and programmers for big data projects, but every reporter should have some basic data analysis skills. This isn’t rocket science.
While I’m at it, every reporter should have some photo journalism skills too, and always have a digital camera on one’s self. You never know when a photo journalism opportunity might present itself. And don’t get me started on Web skills.
I understand that people will still have strengths and weaknesses, but journalism can ill-afford to have reporters with very narrow skill sets.