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When two students and two teachers were killed and nine other people were hospitalized with gunshot wounds at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia last week, Visual Data Journalist Taylor Johnston BSJ/BSVC ’20 and the new News and Stations Data team she is part of at CBS News got right to work. Johnston worked on story called “ Apalachee High School shooting is the latest in U.S. Here's how many happened in 2024, so far ” which examined the 218 school shootings that have happened this year in the U.S. and contained an interactive map of the shootings this year, as well as bar graphs showing the rise in the number of school shootings and deaths over the last 10 years.
“We can we add more context to what is happening in the news,” said Johnston. “In this case, we used the K-12 Shooting Database to deepen understanding of the larger picture.”
Growing up near Cleveland, Johnston came to Ohio University to study journalism and become a news reporter but ended up discovering that her love of design could take her down a different journalism path. She was in the Journalism Carr Van Anda Program which allows School of Journalism majors to create an individualized course of study within the journalism framework.
“As a freshman I was focused on traditional news reporting,” said Johnston. “I worked for The Post as a copy editor and thought about pursuing a career in investigative journalism. But then I discovered interactive information design and learned that I could use coding and web design on special, in-depth projects.”
Johnston realized she wanted to be a data journalist, where she could use data and information to write and report stories. She learned how to visualize information so people can better understand complicated subjects.
“I think I’ve always come from an artsy background,” said Johnston. “Being able to pair that with journalism to explain complex topics in an easier way is something I truly enjoy.”
Johnston wants to encourage future journalists to explore the data journalism path. She knows it can seem overwhelming but says it’s not as scary as it may appear.
“I do a lot of data science things, and people are afraid of that because they think it involves a lot of math, coding and computer science,” said Johnston. “But as a little kid I struggled with math. I hated it so much. If I can do this, others certainly can.”
Johnston is currently based in Washington D.C. and started working at CBS News this past February. Her work is mostly focused on medical, health and wellness topics. Previously, she was a graphics reporter for Hearst Connecticut Media Group. Johnston has also worked for The New York Times, The Center for Public Integrity, The Dallas Morning News and Newsday.
“Data journalism is growing and is a big part of the future of journalism,” said Johnston.
“Data journalism is one of the skills journalism employers ask for most. We live in a world of "big data" that needs people who can make sense of it all and contextualize it for us. They find stories that often go unreported and then can approach them without prejudice or bias. Data doesn't lie,” said E.W. Scripps School of Journalism Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies Hans Meyer. “We offer the JOUR4790: Data Journalism course every spring semester. I taught the class last Spring, and students explored important topics such as athletic funding, campus fire alarms and Venezuelan corruption.”