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Two years ago, Columbia Journalism School established the Master of Science in Data Journalism, a three-semester program that provides the hands-on training that is needed to tell deeply reported data-driven stories in the public interest. It was created to educate a new generation of journalists who can meet newsrooms' demands for reporters who know how to find, collect, and analyze data for storytelling, presentation and investigative reporting.
What is it actually like to be a student in the M.S. in Data Journalism program? Earlier in 2020, we spoke with Veronica Penney, a graduate of the program's inaugural 2019 class, about her experience at Columbia. Penney recently joined The New York Times as a 2020-21 fellow in its climate section, where, in September 2020, she published a story about the widespread wildfires taking place around the globe. Before joining the Times, Penney served as a 2019-20 postgraduate fellow in Columbia Journalism School's Columbia Journalism Investigations program, which investigated the health impacts of climate change and published its findings in collaboration with the Center for Public Integrity, The Nation, and The Guardian in June 2020.
Please read our Q&A below to learn more about Penney's experience at Columbia Journalism School.
What were you doing before coming to Columbia Journalism School?
I was working in Colorado for a little start-up company that did digital marketing for rental homes - kind of like fancy Airbnbs. Before that, I was working in digital marketing. I also worked for a mountain bike company in Arizona, and I worked for a newsroom in Colorado, but not on the news side. I had decided that news was really where I wanted to be, and that journalism is what I wanted to be doing. So, I came to Columbia to pivot in that direction.
What led you to apply to join the M.S. in Data in Journalism Program's inaugural class?
I've always liked math and I've always been interested in programming. I did a bit of front-end work as a marketing professional. I knew a little HTML, a little CSS, a little Javascript, but I really wanted to get deeper into it. The M.S. in Data Journalism seemed like a cool way to explore new stories that you wouldn't otherwise be able to explore. It seemed like it also gave students a smart skill set, especially because the job market in journalism is really competitive right now, and data skills seem like a good thing to have on your resume. Things are changing so quickly and there's always employer demand for data skills.
What were some highlights of your time in the M.S. in Data Journalism Program?
It was really great. We had a small class that first year, just ten students. The teachers were all terrific. It was nice to be able to talk to them pretty openly about what was working and what wasn't - because they wanted that type of feedback.
I didn't really know what to expect going into the program, especially since it was the first year. I have to say that I learned a lot more than I thought I would. I learned about a lot of things that I didn't know existed, which was really fantastic. Before coming to Columbia, I didn't know anything about web scraping; I had never used Sequel 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.
Mapping was something that I also picked up at Columbia that has also been super helpful. I audited a class in the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (Columbia GSAPP) about cartography - that was a fantastic experience.
Can you tell us about your Columbia Journalism School elective Seminar & Production class "Covering Climate: Story and Animation," where you created an animation project that you published on www.weather.com?
In that class, we created multimedia visualizations, which are really short animations, about climate topics. What really appealed to me about that class was having the chance to do something more visually-based. Along with Professor Marguerite Holloway, the class was also taught by Benjamin Hirt from the Rhode Island School of Design. I thought the class would be a great opportunity to mix a bit of art with science and to create some really beautiful visuals. Climate is also something I've long been interested in - I'm a very outdoorsy person. It turned out to be a really fun fit.
Can you tell us about your experience in the Columbia Investigations Postgraduate Fellowship, which has been focused on a project about climate change and health?
Being from Colorado, climate change has always been on my radar. The postgraduate fellowship seemed like a cool opportunity to work on an in-depth story on the health impacts of climate change, which is something that not a lot of people have covered. Beyond that, it seemed like a great opportunity to sharpen my skill set as an investigative journalist. Investigations are something I've always been interested in, and I knew going in that my investigative skill set wasn't as strong as other areas of my reporting skill set. So, during the project, I learned how to reach out to people who have lost loved ones and how to track people down and have these hard conversations. These experiences have been beneficial for my future regardless of the topic of the investigation. The fact that the project was about climate change is just a bonus.
What do you look forward to doing as a New York Times fellow in its climate section?
It will surely be a fantastic experience to work with some of the best reporters in the business and learn what it takes to operate at that level. I'm really excited because The New York Times has structured the fellowship so there isn't an expectation that I'll be a data journalist or a regular reporter - they want me to use whatever skills I need to best tell each story. I can do as many or as few visuals as I would like. I can also use data to the extent that it will help the story, but I don't have a data requirement. To have that freedom, and also the support of some incredible journalism professionals, will help me do the best work that I can.
Do you have any advice for someone considering the M.S. in Data Journalism Program?
I could be biased because I completed this program and it has served me well, but I think that the M.S. in Data Journalism gives you a fantastic skill set to have, especially if you're a little bit concerned about the state of flux that the journalism profession is in. I also think that any reporter could benefit from having a data skillset. If you don't like working with numbers and data, it might not be the right fit. But, if you would like to learn how to dig up databases on the internet and create visualizations, the program can be a really fun way to merge all of those interests.
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