Paul Bradshaw on the skills that future journalists need

It's not often you get to meet a legend in your area of work, whatever you do. But one of the joys of studying data journalism is that it's a young field, so the pioneers are still around. Paul Bradshaw is one of the first British journalists to really get modern data journalism. So, I jumped at the chance to do a short course on data scraping with him, organised by the Centre for Investigative Journalism.

Commenting on the current state of data journalism, he said one of the main changes he's seen is a "shift from the mid-career journalists" who used to dominate data journalism "to more entry-level journalists, or students who have recently graduated."

"Data journalism it's not an adjunct"

This isbecause,Bradshaw says, the field is seen "as a career in its own right, rather than just a tool or a part of investigative journalism.” According to Bradshaw, data journalism is now a specialised area of the profession valued for its own sake rather than just an adjunct to something else.

But even with a new generation coming through there remain some consistent traits. "Fundamentally - he said - it's still the people who are curious, who are quite often investigative minded, and see the potential for holding power to account, for telling stories in different ways."

Paul Bradshaw is well aware of what employers want from a new cohort of data journalists. As well as his journalism at outlets like the Guardian Data Blog, the BBC England Data Unit, and on the investigative website Help Me Investigate, Bradshaw is a course leader on the Birmingham City University MA in Data Journalism and the MA in Multiplatform and Mobile Journalism.

"Technical skills are not enough"

"It's not just the technical skills, it's making sure you have the broader package. I know there are people who have technical skills but you ask them for story ideas and they don't have them, or they don't understand newsworthiness or they're reluctant to pick up the phone," he said.

Bradshaw is trying to provide his students with more than just technical skills: "Those skills are really important [but] if someone is just coming out of a course with the ability to see the technical side of things, it's nothing without the ideas of storytelling."