Institute for Analytic Journalism

Sometimes journalists have a tendency to be too literal. We want to ask a question and we want the response to be a quote that is without ambiguity. One that's fills in some of the space between our anecdotes. But other times, we need tools that work like a periscope, a device that allows us to not look at the object directly but through a helpful lens. Such periscopes for analyzing the economy are indirect indicators.

Monday's (5 Dec. 2005) NYTimes' Business Section was loaded with references to such indicators that journos could keep in mind when looking for devices to show and explain what's happening. Check out "What's Ahead: Blue Skies, or More Forecasts of Them?" Be sure to click on the link "Graphic: Indicators From Everyday Life"

Another indirector was mentined Sunday on National Public Radio in "Economic Signs Remain Strong" There, an economist said he tracks changes in the "titanium dioxide" data, the compound is used in all white paint and reflects manufacturing production.

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Tilling the soil makes for fertile crops, Congressionally speaking.

by Tom Johnson on Mon 05 Dec 2005 11:42 AM MST

Kudos to Derek Willis and Adrian Holovaty of The Washington Post for the Washingtonpost.com site "U.S. Congress Votes Database." One element we find of recent and special interest is the "late night votes" variables for both the House and Senate. With a little more probing and data slicing and dicing, it would make an interesting bit of visual statistics/infographics to do a longitudinal comparison of the time of votes in various congresses.

This site/searchable database is a fine example of how investing in some basic data preparation can create the potential for a ton of stories. Why, for example, do Democrats have such a preponderance (18 out of 20) of Representatives on the "missed votes" list, but only 9 out of 20 on the similar list for the Senate?

This is also a fine example of how a newspaper can do good things for itself while doing good things for the community and readers. This database gives the WP reporters and editors a quick look-up of Congressional activity, the kind of fact and detail that can enrich a story. At the same time, citizens can turn to this value-added form of the public record to answer their own questions.

Derek Willis wrote to the news librarians listserv:

"Folks,

It's not part of a story or series, but the Post today launched a site
that may prove useful to your newsrooms or even as an inspiration to
learn Python: a congressional votes database that covers the
102nd-109th congresses (1991-present). Currently browsable, we're
working on adding a search engine and other features to it. Adrian
Holovaty, who works for washingtonpost.com, and I assembled the data
and he built the web framework to display it. All of the data is
gathered using Python, the database backend is PostgreSQL and the web
framework is Django."

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