Interaction session on Data Journalism

Posted on July 4, 2023 Broadcast, Campus Diary, DJMC Round Up, News

Department of Journalism and Mass Communication organised an interaction session with noted Data Journalist, Mr. Vijdan Mohammad Kawoosa on July 4, 2023.

Vijdan is currently working with international wire agency Reuters. He has previously worked with BBC and the Hindustan Times, covering major news events from across the world with data and graphics. Based in India, he focuses on the Asia Pacific region, covering a broad range of subjects including politics, conflict, health, environment and disasters.

In the session which spanned around three hours, Vijdan covered various dimensions of Data Journalism, including use of data for public interest stories, common data formats, finding and planning a data story; understanding, verifying, summarizing and simplifying data insights. He also spoke extensively about Data Visualization and Visual Storytelling.

Citing examples of several data-driven stories, he illustrated the increasing relevance and importance of data journalism.

The guest speaker was felicitated by Principal of the host college, Prof. (Dr.) Ruhi Jan Kanth. Speaking on the occasion, the Principal underlined the importance of holding sessions on emerging fields in different disciplines. Prof. Ruhi complimented the department for organizing interaction sessions with media professionals on regular basis.

The session was moderated by HOD Journalism and Mass Communication, Dr. Suhail Ahmad. Earlier welcoming the guest, Dr. Suhail said data journalism has emerged as a distinct genre of journalism as the world is becoming increasingly data driven.

“Data journalism needs a unique skill set that combines conventional reporting with data analysis and visualisation. Due to lack of requisite data literacy abilities among journalists, there is a dearth of data-driven stories,” he said.

“Training and capacity building is the answer to tackle this challenge. And this session is a step in that direction. Student learnt the basic skills needed to gather, analyse, and visualise data,” Dr. Suhail added.