Humanising data: Connecting numbers and people
How can journalists connect numbers with people? With in-depth case studies from The New York Times to ProPublica and NPR, contributor Sherry Ricchiardi explains how to humanise the data.
Contributor profile
Sherry Ricchiardi
international journalist | media development specialist/trainer freelance
Biography
Sherry Ricchiardi, Ph.D. International journalist, media development specialist
Based in Washington, D.C., Sherry Ricchiardi, has worked with journalists in 35 countries, most recently in Ethiopia and Pakistan. Among her specialties: media ethics in the digital age, power of data in storytelling, election coverage, conflict sensitive reporting, and cross border investigative reporting.
She spent 14 years as a reporter and magazine writer for the Des Moines Register, a prize-winning newspaper in the Midwest, and has been an editor at the Columbia Missourian, a newspaper produced at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, her alma mater.
She has served on the advisory council for Columbia University’s Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma and co-authored an International Center for Journalists’ “Disaster and Crisis Coverage” manual, a guide for newsrooms. Her stories often appear in IJNet, International Journalists’ Network. Under the Fulbright program, she has taught at at universities in Croatia and Ukraine. In April, she wrote a story for IJNet on how the Trump administration threatens press freedom: https://ijnet.org/en/story/trump-administration-threatens-press-freedom-cpj-report-finds
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Content by Sherry
Conflict reporting with data: a guide for journalists
How can data journalism be used to ensure the accuracy and impact of war reporting? Sherry Ricchiardi provides a journalist's guide for using data to report on conflict-affected regions remotely.
A journalist’s guide to US opinion polls
The more journalists know about polls, how they work and how to evaluate their quality, the closer they come to clarity and accuracy in reporting. We explore resources and advice from experts on how to cover polling data in the 2020 elections.
Challenging election disinformation with data
Disinformation has become a major factor in the 2020 American presidential campaign. We explore the methods manipulators use to inflame political and social tensions and what journalists can do to stop being easy targets.
Capturing racial justice protests with data
The use of verification tools and open source investigation techniques were essential in exposing police brutality, racism and the need for change.
Coronavirus coverage: giving a voice to the vulnerable with data on your side
From The New York Times to the Associated Press and ProPublica, journalist Sherry Ricchiardi explores how journalists can tell stories about the impact COVID-19 is having on society's most marginalised groups.