Data Journalism | Claude Skills for Journalism

The data story arc

Based on Philip Meyer's precision journalism framework, adapted for modern newsrooms.

1

The hook (nut graf)

What's the key finding? Why should readers care? What's the human impact?

2

The evidence

Show the data. Explain the methodology. Acknowledge limitations.

3

The context

Historical comparisons. Geographic comparisons. Trend analysis.

4

The human element

Individual examples that illustrate the data. Expert interpretation. Affected voices.

5

The implications

What does this mean going forward? What questions remain? What actions could result?

6

The methodology box

Where did data come from? How was it analyzed? What are the limitations?

What's included

Data acquisition

Federal and state data sources, FOIA strategies for datasets, building your own databases.

Data.gov Census BLS

Data cleaning

Python patterns for standardizing names, parsing dates, handling duplicates, flagging outliers.

pandas rapidfuzz

Statistical analysis

Journalist-friendly statistics, per capita calculations, inflation adjustment, change metrics.

cpi wbdata

Data visualization

Chart selection guide, Plotly for exploration, Datawrapper for publication-ready charts.

Plotly Datawrapper

Geospatial analysis

Geocoding with Census and Google APIs, GeoPandas workflows, choropleth maps.

geopandas lonboard

Responsible reporting

Correlation vs causation, avoiding misleading visualizations, chart integrity checklists.

Ethics Accuracy

Ready-to-use code

The skill includes Python patterns you can use immediately.

Inflation adjustment example

# Adjust dollar amounts for inflation
from cpi import inflate

# Compare salaries across years
salary_2010 = 50000
salary_2024_dollars = inflate(salary_2010, 2010, to=2024)

print(f"${salary_2010:,} in 2010 = ${salary_2024_dollars:,.0f} in 2024")
# $50,000 in 2010 = $70,147 in 2024

Install the skill

1 Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/jamditis/claude-skills-journalism.git

2 Copy skill to Claude skills directory

cp -r data-journalism ~/.claude/skills/

3 Start analyzing

Ask Claude to help clean your dataset, create visualizations, or structure your data story.