According to Nieman Fellow Carlos Eduardo Huertas, columnist for the Colombian magazine Semana and founding director of the Consejo de Redacción (CdR), or Newsroom Council, today's newsrooms are caught between what journalism used to be, and what it can be in the future. Huertas, a participant in the second Spark Camp, held Jan. 13-15 in Austin, TX, spoke with the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas about the importance of data journalism and computer assisted reporting.
"Data journalism is one additional tool for traditional journalism," Huertas said. "It's not one or the other. My view is that we have to integrate both of these perspectives. But without a doubt, journalism is changing, and data journalism is one of these tools of change."
Huertas noted that the arrival of these new practices is demanding a certain level of technical knowledge by journalists. Still, he also said, there is a growing acceptance for the separation between journalists and technicians, and an emphasis on the need to establish a better communication link between the two worlds.
