Registration has closed for an intensive one-day hands-on training workshop for national security reporters, focusing on data, documents and the Internet.
The session, featuring trainers from IRE’s National Institute for Computer Assisted Reporting, will be hosted by Medill’s National Security Journalism Initiative.
The program is set for Saturday, June 25, and will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at  Medill News Service, 1325 G St. NW, Washington, DC. There is a $50 registration fee.Â
Instructors and speakers will include . . .
- Sarah Cohen, Duke University Knight Chair in Computational Journalism and former Pulitzer-Prize-winning database editor for the Washington Post and IRE/NICAR training director.
- David Donald, data editor for the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity, former IRE/NICAR training director.
- Margot Williams, database editor/correspondent for NPR’s Investigative Team, former database/online investigative guru for both The Washington Post and The New York Times.
- Josh Meyer, director of education and outreach, Medill National Security Journalism Initiative and former 20-year Los Angeles Times reporter, the last decade of that covering terrorism and national security in Washington.
- Ellen Shearer, director of Medill’s Washington Program, Medill News Service and co-director of the National Security Journalism Initiative.
Planned sessions include:
- Overview of the workshop, introduction to covering national security. Putting it all together in the real world, with a look at quick-turn watchdog stories that you can produce in your newsroom.
- Hands-on training in Excel. Learn to build your own spreadsheet from paper records. Learn basic but powerful functions including putting information in order, filtering out just what you need from a national or statewide data set, and doing math calculations such as change and percent change with large data sets. National security data will be used in the training, focusing on U.S. government weapons sales to foreign countries.
- Effective use of the Internet: What reporters and editors need to know. From better search techniques to the invisible Web, how to find documents and databases on deadline on the national security front and where to find reliable Web sites for enterprise stories. The craft of better searching and not wasting time. Handling issues of credibility and ethics online.
- National security data and documents. Move beyond anecdotes and he-said, she-said journalism with data and documents. Advice on developing a documents state of mind, navigating public records, using new technologies, exploring key records on a variety of related topics, and becoming familiar with key data sets to produce high-impact stories.
- What the National Security Journalism Initiative and IRE can do for you.
