CAR is the use of computers to gather and analyze data for news stories. The spread of computers, software and the Internet is changing how reporters work. Reporters now routinely collect information in databases, analyze public records with spreadsheets and statistical programs and map political, demographic and other trends with geographic information system software. CAR is sometimes called precision journalism, analytic journalism or power reporting. It can be used for both projects and daily stories (the "computer-assisted paragraph").
Examples of CAR:
Donors hedge bets in VA gov's race
Making the Grade (grade inflation at VCU) and Grade Distributions by Instructor, 1999 - 2002
Extra! Extra! (blog of investigative/CAR stories)
Excel Exercises
Today, we'll look for stories in data on three local-government beats. (Download the data by right-clicking the data links and selecting "Save Target As ...")
1. City of Richmond budget
Source: City of Richmond Department of Budget and Strategic Planning
Data: richmond-budget.xls
Question: Which departments saw the biggest increases or decreases in expenditures?
Skills: Change-over-time formula and sorting
2. School test scores
Source: Virginia Department of Education
Data: 2005SOLs.xls
Question: Which elementary schools had at least a 97% passing rate on each SOL test?
Skills: Filtering and sorting
3. FBI crime stats
Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reports - Crime in the United States
Data: fbi-ucr-2004.xls
Questions: How does VCU compare with other universities in the rate of violent crimes? How does Richmond compare with other cities in the murder rate?
Skills: Rate calculation and sorting
Data: fbi2005semi.xls
Question: What cities had the biggest decreases in car thefts?
Skills: Change-over-time formula and sorting
CAR Resources
National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting