Digital Literacy in the Newsroom Last week, The Atlantic published a piece by Olga Khazan objecting to the idea that journalists should learn to code. It’s a frustrating read for those of us who’ve labored in the field. Khazan takes a narrow interpretation of the topic and applies it awkwardly, conflating the movement to build technical savvy in the newsroom with pulling down a second gig as a part-time web designer.
Knight-Mozilla OpenNews Fellow Noah Veltman rebuts Khazan’s arguments handily. His points about research and analysis, as well as understanding the medium in general, are spot on. Khazan seems to have an incomplete grasp of where technology can be applied to assist traditional reporting, and misses the larger picture about digital literacy altogether. Veltman covers both thoroughly.