Embedded Files
Every 10 years, data journalists perform an unheralded public service. They process, analyze and visualize Census data, pumping out stories, maps and charts to help readers and policymakers make sense of the demographic shifts in the neighborhood. county, state and the national level. In recent decades, this work has grown increasingly collaborative.
This year, 2021, a network of journalists and academics created a free toolkit to help busy journalists get straight to finding Census stories. These tools make it easy to find data for communities, states, and the nation and compare it with the 2010 decennial Census. As part of this initiative. The tools and training are focused on the August 2021 “redistricting” data release, which include detailed figures about population, race and ethnicity, and housing.
The Census 2020 Data Co-op members include the Associated Press, Census Reporter at Northwestern University, Big Local News at Stanford University, and the Poynter Institute. The Data Co-op is made possible with support from the Google News Initiative and in cooperation with the JSK Journalism Fellowships.
The Associated Press' Angel Kastanis processed 2020 Census data down to the block level and added in comparison files from the 2010 Census.
The AP's comparison files at block and tract levels were uploaded to Big Local News as an Open Project, along with README files. And Big Local News worked with Pitch Interactive to create the embeddable Census Mapper for use by journalists and others.
The Census Bureau doesn't tabulate data for city neighborhoods and other kinds of locally important geographies. Census Reporter has created a new tool to make this as easy as we can.
The Poynter Institute is conducting a series of workshops to train journalists working on any beat to use these tools to uncover stories in the data and is making these trainings widely available. Journalists can access the initial training here, and keep up to date on ongoing training efforts here.
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