This Gallery of Data Visualization displays some examples of the Best and Worst of Statistical Graphics, with the view that the contrast may be useful, inform current practice, and provide some pointers to both historical and current work. We go from what is arguably the best statistical graphic ever drawn, to the current record-holder for the worst.
See http://www.math.yorku.ca/SCS/Gallery/

There are many things that faster computers have made possible in recent years. For [journalists], scientists, engineers, statisticians, managers, investors, and others, computers have made it possible to create models that simulate reality and aid in making predictions. One of the methods for simulating real systems is the ability to take into account randomness by investigating hundreds of thousands of different scenarios. The results are then compiled and used to make decisions. This is what Monte Carlo simulation is about.
      Monte Carlo simulation is often used in business for risk and decision analysis, to help make decisions given uncertainties in market trends, fluctuations, and other uncertain factors.....
      This article will guide you through the process of performing a Monte Carlo simulation using Microsoft Excel. Although Excel will not always be the best place to run a scientific simulation, the basics are easily explained with just a few simple examples."
See http://www.vertex42.com/ExcelArticles/mc/index.html

For yet-to-be-determined reasons, the blog isn't easily viewed today if you're using IE.  However, folks using Mozilla or Firefox seem to have no problem.  Yet another reason to dump IE.  We're trying to solve this head scratcher (any suggestions most welcome), but until we do, fire up any browser but IE.

Today's prognostication: Fifty to 100 years from now, historians and demographers will look at the era from 1990 to 2005 as one characterized by intense global population mobility. 

Any major city in Southeast Asia these days is loaded with people from throughout that broad region.  Any major citiy in Europe is loaded with people from other nations, especially the former USSR, the Mideast and Africa.  And the blending of geography, demography and economics makes for fascinating stories IF we have the tools to tease out the interesting and important facts and trends.

The Jan-March 2005 issue of ESRI's ArcUser magazine is especially rich for analytic journalists and the JAGIS [Journalism and GIS] crowd.  The latter will be especially interested in:

"GIS Tracks Earnings Sent Home by Mexican Migrants."  The piece, by two geographers from SUNY-Cortland, illustrates the money flow to individual Mexican states.  Unfortunately we don't have data and maps showing the U.S. states-of-origin of those dollars, but the methodology will be of interest to geographers and journalists everywhere.

GIS Management is essentially the same as managing a CAR or Analytic Journalism operation in a news organization.  The same issue of ArcUser leads with three articles on how to establish successful GIS programs; just replace "GIS" with "AJ" and the concepts translate easily.  So check out "Enterpriseing GIS Management" ; "Supporting Successful Enterprise GIS Solutions" ; "Building an Enterprise GIS in a Limited Fiscal Environment"; "Evaluating Enterprise GIS Requirements" and "Powering Up Your Enterprise GIS."

Finally, the IAJ gang has been promoting performance measurement (and forensic accounting) as important tools for journalists for the past couple years.  Another story in ArcUser,  "Performance Measurement in Local Government," illustrates how GIS is a valuable analytic and measurement tool, one which journalists could easily adopt.