M.S. Data Journalism
Journalism in the 21st century involves finding, collecting and analyzing data for storytelling, presentation and investigative reporting. The journalism school offers a Master of Science in Data Journalism for students interested in advanced skills.
"Before coming to Columbia, I didn't know anything about web scraping; I had never used SQL before. Those are all great things to have on your resume, along with anything about Python. I hadn't gone too deep into any of those data programming languages before studying here."
Curriculum
Data Journalism students begin their program in the fall taking foundational computational and data courses as well as courses on the fundamentals of reporting. In the second semester, they continue honing their journalistic skills with Writing with Data and the Data, Computation, Innovation workshop, where they will explore cutting-edge storytelling using data and computation, and take a 15‐week seminar and production course with the Master of Science students. In the final semester, students work on the Master’s Project, a substantive piece of data-driven journalism. They also join the Master of Science students in taking a suite of courses called Journalism Essentials, which covers the business, historical, legal and ethical issues of the field. They also take Storytelling with Data and Data, Computation, Innovation II.
Who Should Apply
The M.S. in Data Journalism provides the hands-on training needed to tell deeply reported data-driven stories in the public interest.
The current era needs journalists who can extract stories and meaning from data and massive information flows. The program trains students to confidently use data to report compelling stories.
Applicants do not need to have experience with data or computation to enroll in this three-semester program. All students are required to attend foundational courses that allow those with no data experience to hone their skills in data acquisition, extraction and analysis.