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Deep Dive into Data Journalism – Online (AM)

Take a deep dive into data journalism by combining “Finding Stories With Data  – Online, Intensive” (5 sessions: 20-24 July 2026) with “Data-Driven Investigations – Online, Intensive” (5 sessions: 27-31 July 2026).

“I would like to thank the team for putting together the two-week program. It was an eye opener and I’m certainly going to be using pivot tables a lot more.”

Feedback 2021

Finding Stories with Data

Class duration: 1.5hrs x 5 days (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (optional), Thursday and Friday)
Level of participation: very high. Hands-on, screenshares, regular Q&As and participants contributions.

During the workshops you will learn what data is available and how to find it, how to interrogate it and find facts or patterns in it which will lead, inform and enhance the stories you tell.

There is of course a limit to how much practical knowledge can be exchanged in each 90 minute session, so supporting material is supplied online.

Guided by one of our data trainers, with decades of experience pushing the frontiers of data-driven investigations, you’ll come away with the skills to start gathering, interviewing and presenting data for your own reporting projects.

There are lots of courses which teach data journalism skills, but no others have the specific focus on using these tools and techniques for investigations and holding power to account that is the Centre for Investigative Journalism’s speciality.

The course is composed of five sessions of around 1.5 hours each, scheduled over 5 days, with an additional 1.5 hours of self-directed learning guided by recorded tutorials and online materials. Signed-up participants must attend all sessions, except for Wednesday’s session on scraping, which is optional.

Classes for this course are capped to keep them small and ensure practicality and interactivity.

Data-Driven Investigations

Class duration: 2hrs x 5 consecutive days (Monday to Friday)
Level of participation: very high. Hands-on, screenshares, regular Q&As and participants contributions.

Data can reveal patterns. Investigative journalism reveals accountability.

This course is designed for journalists, researchers, investigators and accountability professionals who already have a grounding in working with data and want to develop the investigative methods needed to turn leads, datasets and evidence into rigorous, defensible public-interest investigations.

Data remains an essential source of leads and evidence. Yet many stories involving data stop at the discovery of something unusual, surprising or statistically significant. For us, that is where the investigation begins, with a new set of questions: Why did this happen? Who benefits? Who made the decisions? And ultimately, what should happen now?

This course draws on our experience working in newsrooms or cross-border investigations to report public-interest stories that require legal scrutiny and substantial evidence. It centres on the Story Memo – a practical investigative framework that helps participants develop and manage investigations from hypotheses to publication – using real examples and practical exercises throughout.

We offer a 10% discount for those who choose to book both courses as a package. To benefit from this offer, book your place for this two-course package by completing the booking form at the bottom of this page.

Signed-up participants must attend all nine sessions.

Technical Requirements

This course will need you to have the following software/apps/tools on your computer:

  • MS Excel 2016 or newer (If do not have access to Excel, there is a free trial version available). We encourage the use of MS Excel (that is, the desktop “app”: the online version of Office 365 lacks some of the features you will need). If necessary, you can use Google Sheets, which has slightly different menus and instructions, but the trainer doesn’t always have the opportunity to demonstrate both systems in the session: he will certainly try, but you may find you need to do some extra work outside the session to catch up.
  • Zoom app. During these sessions the trainers often need participants to be able to share their screen in order to solve problems or demonstrate techniques: if you are on a work computer, or other device which has screen sharing on Zoom disabled, please consider getting the restriction lifted for the duration of this course. If you can’t share the screen because the function is blocked or disabled, it makes it much harder to solve problems and learn from them. But, rest assured, nobody will be forced to share their screen against their will!
  • Camera and audio
  • This course will be hosted on Zoom. To find out more about how we use Zoom, please check out our Zoom InfoSec page.

Course Structure

Exercises and additional viewing of tutorial videos will be provided to supplement the training between sessions.

Important

Our training is not recorded: if you miss a session, it is lost – you cannot watch a recording of it, nor will you be allowed to attend that session at a later date.

20 July 2026 – Finding Stories with Data: Module 1 - Interview your data

10:00–11:30
This first session teaches you the primary functions of spreadsheet software for journalistic analysis. These functions will allow you to quickly and easily 'interview' your data, asking questions about what it knows and interpreting the answers. These techniques form the core of data journalism skills.

21 July 2026 – Finding Stories with Data: Module 2 - Finding Data

10:00–11:30
Having sharpened your analysis skills on some sample data, you'll be keen to find datasets relevant to your own projects. This session will give you the best tips and tricks to find data that can inform your research and provide leads for new untold stories.

22 July 2026 – Finding Stories with Data: Module 3 - Scraping data (optional)

10:00–11:30
An introduction to scraping and APIs. Sometimes you find data you want, but there's no download button. How do you get the data onto your hard drive? You may need to use the technique known as scraping. At the same time, many data hosts will allow you to download data in bulk using an API (Application Program Interface). When do you scrape, and when do you use an API, and what do you need to know? This session is an introduction to one of the most technical, but fun, aspects of datajournalism. Meanwhile, we offer various pre-recorded tutorials and exercises in support of this module which you can use at any time. These cover the difficulties of working with incomplete and inconsistent data, and the problem of data being published in PDF format. The tutorials will help you get your data into a form from which you can analyse and draw meaningful conclusions as efficiently as possible.

23 July 2026 – Finding Stories with Data: Module 4 - Telling your story

10:00–11:30
This session will focus on how to take the findings from your data research and pull them together into a coherent story. Data-driven stories often need some kind of visualisation and we will look at how to do these, telling stories and summarising data in graphs. But visualisation is not the only way to present your findings, so we will discuss when visualisations are necessary and when they’re not. We'll also consider what works well for a visualisation, and what is less effective.

24 July 2026 – Finding Stories with Data: Module 5 - Creating your own data story & visualisation

10:00–11:30
In this module we will bring together everything we have learned across the week in a practical group exercise involving analysing a new data set, finding a story, and creating your own visualisation. You will receive feedback from the trainer and your peers on your work, and we'll cover next steps for continuing to learn more about data journalism.

27 July 2026 – Data-Driven Investigations: Module 1 - Data and Investigations • Ideas and the story memo

10:00–12:00
This session looks at data-driven story ideas and where they come from. We revisit pivot tables and deconstruct a real data-driven story to work out how it was done, and introduce you to the story memo – the action plan which will help you to keep your own investigation on track.

28 July 2026 – Data-Driven Investigations: Module 2 - Interviewing data

10:00–12:00
This session looks in more detail at the idea of “interviewing” your data, to craft better questions and get better answers.

29 July 2026 – Data-Driven Investigations: Module 3 - Data sources

10:00–12:00
Here we focus on sources of data: building on Module 2 of Finding Stories with Data, you will be set some challenges to find specific story elements.

30 July 2026 – Data-Driven Investigations: Module 4 - Bulletproofing the data investigation

10:00–12:00
This session explains the steps to follow for ensuring you have what you think you have as you continue to work on your story memo. We also take a look at some of the pitfalls of working with numbers and statistics.

31 July 2026 – Data-Driven Investigations: Module 5 - Putting it all together and next steps

10:00–12:00
In the final session, we help you to complete your story memo so that you leave the course with a real story on the go. We also discuss what other training and resources you might need as you start your journey into Data Journalism

Trainer Biographies:

Jonathan Stoneman

Jonathan Stoneman is a freelance trainer specialising in data journalism. He has been working with data since 2010. Before that he worked at the BBC – as a reporter, producer, editor of output in Macedonian and Croatian, and finally as head of training at BBC World Service.

Leila Haddou

Leila Haddou is an investigative and data journalist. She has previously worked for BBC Panorama, The Times and Sunday Times, the FT and the Guardian. She has an avid interest in how technology can aid investigative reporting.

Booking Form

  • 20 July 2026 10.00–11.30 Timezone: BST (UK Time)
  • 21 July 2026 10.00–11.30 Timezone: BST (UK Time)
  • 22 July 2026 10.00–11.30 Timezone: BST (UK Time)
  • 23 July 2026 10.00–11.30 Timezone: BST (UK Time)
  • 24 July 2026 10.00–11.30 Timezone: BST (UK Time)
  • 27 July 2026 10.00–12.00 Timezone: BST (UK Time)
  • 28 July 2026 10.00–12.00 Timezone: BST (UK Time)
  • 29 July 2026 10.00–12.00 Timezone: BST (UK Time)
  • 30 July 2026 10.00–12.00 Timezone: BST (UK Time)
  • 31 July 2026 10.00–12.00 Timezone: BST (UK Time)
Timezone: BST (UK Time)
Location: Zoom meeting
Goldsmiths students (full time)*
£150
Students (full time)*
£196
Freelancers**
£352
Small Media/Education/NonProfit Organisations (<10 staff)
£547
Large Media/Education/NonProfit Organisations (10+ staff)
£761
Other Organisations
£1374

In line with our non-profit mission, our pricing operates on a sliding scale, ensuring large organisations pay more to subsidise places for smaller newsrooms, freelancers and students.

*Students places for this course are capped, due to limited capacity. Anyone registering as a student will be asked for a photo/scan of their student ID ahead of the course.

**Employed individuals who cannot have their employers pay for the course are entitled to the freelancer rate. Note that we are a small charity and rely on your honesty so please do not register as a freelancer if your employer is reimbursing you for the course.

We have a strict policy of No Refund and No Transfer of bookings.

Upcoming:
20–24 July 2026

Finding Stories with Data – Online, Intensive (AM)

You’ve heard people talking about data journalism, but don’t know where to start? Then this course is for you.

Upcoming:
27–31 July 2026

Data-Driven Investigations – Online, Intensive (AM)

This course is designed for journalists, researchers, investigators and accountability professionals who already have a grounding in working with data and want to develop the investigative methods needed to turn leads, datasets and evidence into rigorous, defensible public-interest investigations.