Beautiful news

Beautiful news

It’s not exactly rocket science to claim that a picture tells a thousand words. That said, it would seem that this maxim has now become firmly entrenched in the world of the press, and not simply when it comes to photojournalism. Every day, more top media houses are embracing the power of visuals to tell better stories – from basic charts through to ground-breaking interactive articles.

Here’s a quick breakdown of how some of the world’s main media outlets are taking full advantage of data and visualisation, along with a few of the best examples of features we’ve seen recently.


CHARTS & BASIC INFOGRAPHICS

  • The Datablog

The Guardian’s data-focused blog pushes out a number of pieces every day, accompanied by static and/or interactive visuals. Most importantly, nearly every piece includes an option to download the raw data itself, giving you the chance to play around with the numbers and put together your own visuals.

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog

https://twitter.com/GuardianData

 

  • The Numbers Guy

The Wall Street Journal’s blog for how ‘numbers are used and abused’, The Numbers Guy looks at the data behind key news stories and events. With one or more new posts per day, the blog includes traditional online articles (like this one on the economic cost of crisis) and more visually engaging pieces (like this one on GMOs)

http://blogs.wsj.com/numbersguy/

https://twitter.com/WSJnumbersguy

 

gmo

 

  • Graphic detail

The Economist’s blog for ‘charts, maps and infographics’ puts out a daily chart along with other news-related pieces. The charts are basic but clear and concise, helping to tell the story in a simple and impactful way. Sadly, the articles and charts fall behind The Economist’s paywall.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail

https://twitter.com/ECONdailycharts

 

  • FT Data

The FT’s Data blog pulls together data journalism from a number of FT journalists. Most pieces tend to be quite detailed, complete with in-depth analysis and a number of visuals (ranging from static charts to basic interactives). The blog also hosts some guest posts and more designed pieces, like this interactive around London’s renting crisis. While the blog isn’t trapped behind the FT paywall, you do need to register for a free account, as with all FT blogs.
http://blogs.ft.com/ftdata/

https://twitter.com/ftdata

 

MAPPING

  • The Washington Post’s ‘Sea of Steel’

An interactive map that lets you explore the gun recovery programme in Washington DC. The feature also includes a short data-based video and a few basic charts, but the real star is the interactive map, which shows you which areas have seen the highest recovery rates, which types of guns are most common, and how the recovery rate has changed over time.
A basic but brilliant interactive by the BBC to figure out mortgage costs and buying options in the UK. A few basic questions lead to a custom interactive map that shows where you can afford to buy a house in the UK.
Slightly older but a great example of how live data can be used with mapping to show how a story is developing. USA Today mapped all the results in real time – down to the county level – letting US voters (and international watchers) keep on eye on how the election was developing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/local/dc-recovered-guns/

 

guns

 

  • BBC’s ‘Where can I afford to live?’

A basic but brilliant interactive by the BBC to figure out mortgage costs and buying options in the UK. A few basic questions lead to a custom interactive map that shows where you can afford to buy a house in the UK.

Slightly older but a great example of how live data can be used with mapping to show how a story is developing. USA Today mapped all the results in real time – down to the county level – letting US voters (and international watchers) keep on eye on how the election was developing.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24387237

 

  • USA Today’s 2012 US election tracker

Slightly older but a great example of how live data can be used with mapping to show how a story is developing. USA Today mapped all the results in real time – down to the county level – letting US voters (and international watchers) keep on eye on how the election was developing.

http://i.usatoday.net/news/graphics/elections-2012-app/index.html#map/president/counties

 

INTERACTIVE FEATURES

  • New York Times Magazine’s ‘A Game of Shark and Minnow’

One of the most lauded online features going, this piece by the NYT combines video, mapping, beautiful imagery and long-form prose to tell an extremely engaging story. This is likely to be the basis of online feature pieces to come.
Another brilliant example of a scrolling feature, the Guardian’s interactive feature on the NSA files and Snowden leak combines seamlessly-integrated video with infographics (static and interactive), official documents (as PDFs) and in-depth analysis.

http://www.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2013/10/27/south-china-sea/

 

  • The Guardian’s ‘NSA Files: Decoded

Another brilliant example of a scrolling feature, the Guardian’s interactive feature on the NSA files and Snowden leak combines seamlessly-integrated video with infographics (static and interactive), official documents (as PDFs) and in-depth analysis.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/snowden-nsa-files-surveillance-revelations-decoded

 

  • Bloomberg’s ‘How Americans Die’

Another great entry in Bloomberg’s series of statistics-based features, ‘How Americans Die’ tells the story of how mortality rates in the US have changed over time. Basic animated graphs combined with short analysis show how amazing stories can be told through numbers.

http://www.bloomberg.com/dataview/2014-04-17/how-americans-die.html

 

bloomberg

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