JMI Organizes Two Training Workshops on Data Journalism

The Jordan Media Institute (JMI) and the Canadian media development organization Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) in cooperation with Community Media Network (CMN) organized two training workshops titled &ldquo;Covering Human Rights Issues Using Data Journalism&rdquo;, during the period 19 &ndash; 24^th of April 2014. The two workshops came as part of the project &ldquo;Expanding Public Dialogue on Human Rights Issues Through Media&rdquo;.<br /> <br /> The workshops aimed to introduce participants to the concept of data journalism, its importance, as well as training them on data collection skills from various resources. They also covered how to use data analysis tools to create stories on human rights issues based on the collected data.<br /> <br /> The first workshop, which lasted 3 days, targeted 20 media and journalism students from different Jordanian universities including Zarqa Private University, Jadara University, Yarmouk University, Middle East University and the University of Jordan. The second 4-day workshop targeted 17 journalists from printed press and electronic websites.<br /> <br /> Data journalism is a type of &nbsp;journalism that studies a set of available statistical data, &nbsp;and analyzes it to create new stories. It is also known as precision journalism for its reliance on clear, specific and mainly official data.<br /> <br /> Dr. Bassim Tweissi, JMI&rsquo;s Dean, explained that human rights have become a requirement and not a luxury, adding that media coverage on human rights issues is not sufficient, according to a study conducted by the Institute. He also pointed to the importance of digital data and its relation to human rights, where data is converted to information and knowledge revolving around human rights issues, thus spreading awareness on these issues.<br /> <br /> &ldquo;There is a great interest in this type of journalism, because of the global trend towards transparency and accountability&rdquo;, said trainer Ehab Zelaky, Egyptian journalist and Managing Editor at Almasry Alyoum Newspaper. He added that governments started publishing full databases, which were not easily available in the past.<br /> <br /> The workshops included practical applications that discussed a variety of topics related to human rights, such as studying the state&rsquo;s expenditures on health and education sectors, and their impact on the citizen&rsquo;s health and education levels. The participants also learnt how to employ infographics in their stories by using tools and techniques provided by specialized and free websites.<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;