M.S. in Data Journalism
The modern world of journalism is consumed by data.
Journalists deploy AI to pore over hundreds and millions of emails and documents looking for leads, use remote sensing and satellite imagery to track conflicts thousands of miles away, link posts across social media platforms in search of disinformation and larger trends – and when the story’s finally done, develop new, innovative ways of presenting their findings and connecting with their audiences.
Data comes in a hundred and one forms, and a modern-day data journalist needs to be able to tackle all of it. Depending on the day they might be a data analyst, a legal scholar, a user-experience consultant, a statistician, a Silicon Valley AI hotshot or even a shoe-leather reporter knocking on doors.
Meet the data-driven moment with Columbia’s Data Journalism M.S.
No data or coding experience necessary! If you have an investigative spirit and a desire to follow a story wherever it may lead, the Data Journalism M.S. can be a fit for you. The modern-day data journalist is equally adept at writing code by hand, wielding AI or chasing down leads. Given this technical preparation, the M.S. in Data Journalism has qualified as a STEM degree, meaning international students may qualify for two years of Optional Practical Training (OPT).
Featured Work From Our Students
A finalist for a 2025 Society of Publishers in Asia Award, Somaiyah Hafeez, ’25 M.S. Data Journalism, reported for Kontinentalist on Pakistan’s use of enforced disappearances in Balochistan—spotlighting abducted civilians, state silence, and the women-led fight for justice.
Hazel Gandhi, '25 M.S. Data Journalism, reported for Columbia Journalism Review on how tech platforms like X and Meta are leaning on Community Notes, uncovering how coordinated bad actors and weak safeguards allow misinformation to persist online.
Pooja Chaudhuri, '23 M.S. Data Journalism, is a researcher and training at Bellingcat, where she focuses on human rights and conflict. She has reported on attacks in Myanmar and the profitable world of disinformation.
The Data Journalism M.S. is one semester longer than our traditional M.S. degree. That’s three semesters of hands-on experience with reporting (including investigations, coding, AI, climate, OSINT, local reporting and more). Whether you are new to journalism or want to pursue work using the latest computer technology to develop and manage new forms of digital communications, there’s a path through data journalism that is right for you.
The M.S. in Data Journalism is a STEM coded degree which means that international students may qualify for a two-year STEM OPT extension provided the position requires STEM skills and the employer abides by all the stipulations listed here in the Employer Requirements and Responsibilities section.
More Work From Our Students
Carla Mandiola, '23 M.S. Data Journalism, and Jazzmin Jiwa, '23 M.S. Data Journalism, won a 2026 Covering Climate Now Journalism Award in Displacement and Migration for their coverage combining 9 million government immigration records with migrants’ personal journeys to New York City.
Kunle Falayi, '22 M.S. Data Journalism, covered Flock cameras for WHRO, showing how one small Virginia town yielded almost 7 million hits on the Flock surveillance network, winning an Excellence in Journalism Award from the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association.
Bianca Pallaro, '21 M.S. Data Journalism, is a data reporter at The New York Times, where her investigation into fake political donors turned into a suite of stories about how political influence is peddled in New York City.
Digging into ICE for CBS, Julia Ingram, '22 M.S. Data Journalism, has written on summer enforcement surges affecting people without criminal records and wasteful spending on detention facilities.
Tanaz Meghjani, '22 M.S. Data Journalism, is a data journalist for Bloomberg, where she’s investigated advertising trackers sending health data to Meta and TikTok, and how medical systems turn routine cancer drugs into expensive moneymakers.
An analysis of border crossing data from 4.5 million migrants by Will Jarrett, '21 M.S. Data Journalism, Humera Lodhi, '20 M.S. Data Journalism, Aaron Kessler, '14 Knight Bagehot Fellow, for the Associated Press shows how the United States has been transformed in the past decade – it even includes a breakdown of their analysis.
The Program
The Data Journalism M.S. is a 12-month, three-semester Master's program meant for both experienced and new journalists interested in a data-driven approach to reporting and investigations. It includes one additional semester beyond our traditional MS program, giving participants the unique curriculum needed to master both their reporting and technical skills.
Students in the Data Journalism M.S. program learn the fundamentals of programming and digital media production, using languages like Python, R and JavaScript, the industry standards for the technologies underlying both investigative work and media production. Through project-based courses they learn how to present journalism through the latest digital media technologies including data visualization, interactive graphics, and web applications. Alongside production, students are also equipped to conduct investigations into the design and use of communication technologies themselves.
While often called to develop and manage communication technologies — tools for analysis and visualization, programs for sophisticated interactivity — our students are also expected to report “on” these technologies — conducting critical evaluations of their applications and performance. Our students’ unique perspective as tool users and developers prepares them to report on communications technologies and the surrounding ethics, law and policies.
The digital landscape is changing faster than ever. News organizations weigh corporate partnerships with tech giants, AI companies vacuum up content with rough-and-tumble legal arguments about fair or transformative use, and consumers are being introduced to information through new mediators like chatbots and influencers. Explore the regulatory, legal and ethical frameworks that are being introduced to steer this new environment, uncovering skills that sit at the intersection of AI ethics, corporate oversight and international tech law.
Legacy media underwent a transformation in the move from print to the internet. With more and more readers getting their news influencers or chatbots, what are the product innovations and interaction touch-points that are necessary to ride the incoming wave of digital media? Students leverage fresh perspectives and burgeoning technology to analyze audience reach, build new online experiences, and deliver content in ways that were impossible a short decade ago.
Who Should Apply
Applicants are not required to have a background in data or coding. All students begin with foundational courses designed to build confidence and competence in data acquisition, extraction, and analysis—regardless of prior experience.
Curious, but not sure if the program is the right fit for you? Reach out to set up an interview.
Have a background in computation and thinking about the next level? Take a look at our Dual Degree in Journalism and Computer Science.
Coursework
Data Journalism M.S. students take a special suite of courses tailored specifically to the needs of data journalists, including deep dives into Python, mapping, statistics, scraping, and databases.
Data and Databases prepares students for planning and construction of large-scale databases. Ingesting and analyzing data at scale enables newsrooms to conduct wide-ranging investigative research, tracking millions of pieces of legislation, decades of campaign finance records, or myriad sources of trade and corporate relationship data. Students learn to build infrastructure that sources their own investigations and also enables collaboration both within the newsroom and with the public through web interfaces.
Data Mapping enables students to leverage Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools and techniques to perform a broad spectrum of analyses and presentations to support their on-the-ground reporting. Students might detect deforestation or illegal mining through high-resolution satellite imagery, track urban heat islands with remote sensing, or uncover at-risk schools or neighborhoods by collating vector or georeferenced raster data on pollution or chemical spills. Stories can take the form of web-based interactive maps, time-lapse displays of before/after aerial photography, or static explanatory graphics designed in QGIS or Adobe Illustrator.
In Algorithms, students learn foundational concepts of statistical modeling. Students learn how to use analytical techniques such as linear and logistic regression, they get an introduction to supervised and unsupervised machine learning techniques and learn about AI models and ways to evaluate their outputs – both for use in their own journalistic work and so that they can critically evaluate their use by the institutions they report on. Students have built statistical models of everything from elections and sports to housing markets, air pollution, lead toxicity and educational outcomes. Pairing insights from their analysis with on-the-ground reporting, students report in-depth stories on these that either use or critically evaluate algorithms.
Stem and the M.S. in Data Journalism
The M.S. in Data Journalism at Columbia Journalism School offers a unique mix of training in digital technologies and media production. Students learn how to conduct sophisticated investigations — reporting supported by computation and data — while, equally, receiving training in technologies for digital storytelling and audience engagement.
The problems facing Data Journalism — finding and telling stories through the application of digital technologies — require a professional trained in basic programming languages, in databases, in human-computer interaction. These skills qualify our M.S. in Data Journalism program for the U.S. Department of Education’s Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code 09.0702 — Digital Communication and Media/Multimedia.
Students in the Data Journalism M.S. program learn the basics of programming and digital media production (Foundations of Computing, Data & Databases, Algorithms and Data, Computation & Innovation I and II). They are exposed to the Python and R programming languages, and learn the industry standards for computer technologies underlying both investigative work and media production. They will also learn how to present journalism through the latest digital media technologies — data visualization and interactivity are a must (Data Mapping; Data, Computation & Innovation I and II). Finally, many students conduct investigations into the design and use of communication technologies themselves (Reporting II, Algorithms, Writing with Data).
The match between our Data Journalism M.S. and CIP code 09.0702 comes down to the ways in which Data Journalists function as creators and designers of communications technologies and digital media — to tell stories — and interrogate contemporary digital systems — to find stories.
Disclaimer: Columbia Journalism School, at its sole discretion, reserves the right to make changes to its academic programs, course offerings, degree requirements and academic policies.