Can data journalism improve reporting on Europe?

It has been two years since the European Data Journalism Network (EDJNet) started making collaborative data journalism in Europe. It is high time to take stock of what has been achieved and what can be improved.

After a few consultations with our 28 media partners, we launched a survey which aims to:

• gather information on the practices of newsrooms, data-teams and individual journalists with regard to the use of data techniques in their reporting, in particular when covering European and cross-border issues;
• understand the challenges they face, in terms of type of skills, of tools, of content and formats for reuse or co-production, of strategies for distribution, among other aspects;
• assess to what extent the EDJNet services provide useful tools to make the coverage of European topics easier and more compelling.

The survey is open to all journalists, editors and newsrooms interested in exploring the potential of data journalism to enhance their reporting on any subject concerning European citizens. The more data we collect, the better. We will make the results public to share what we learn and to feed the ongoing debate on journalism in and for Europe.

The survey consists of 48 questions divided into 6 sections: Skills and team; Working with data; Cross-border collaboration; Ethics; Distribution and Impact; EDJNet. We estimate it will take up to 15 minutes to complete.

So breath in, free your mind and find out what you really need as a journalist working with data on cross-border, European issues.

Submissions are open until August 31, 2019.