Journalists who publish data shouldn't 'just print everything a source tells' them. Is the data accurate? 'Unless you built the data set yourself, you probably can't be sure.'-Poynter

1/10/13,  "Programmers explain how to turn data into journalism & why that matters," Poynter.org, Jeff Sonderman

"Data can be wrong, misleading, harmful, embarrassing or invasive. Presenting data as a form of journalism requires that we subject the data to a journalistic process.

We should think of data as we think of any source. They give you information, but you don’t just print everything a source tells you, verbatim. You examine the information critically and hold yourself to certain publishing standards — like accuracy, 

context, clarity and fairness. (under subhead, "Why they don't")...

"Is the data accurate? Unless you built that data set yourself, you probably can’t be sure.  

Even if it comes from a government source, like the gun-owner database did, there’s a chance it contains inaccurate data. (under subhead, "Why not publish this?")"...





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