By MaryJo Webster
Data Editor, Minnesota Star Tribune
There is a very exciting and valuable learning opportunity coming to Minneapolis March 6-9, 2025 – nicknamed the NICAR conference — that every journalist in Wisconsin should try to attend.
NICAR is a national conference that provides all levels of training – beginner to advanced – in data journalism, or what used to be called computer-assisted reporting.
It typically attracts around 1,000 people, including journalists from other countries, all types and sizes of U.S. news organizations, and college students. NICAR, by the way, stands for the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (but nobody really uses the full name anymore).
This conference is held in a different city each year and I am especially thrilled to have it in our state for the first time ever.
Data journalism has become a foundational skill that every newsroom needs as we are immersed in more and more numbers and data. Every journalist needs to be savvy in how to navigate a spreadsheet, how to request government data and how to spot problems with government reports or data analysis produced by others.
My journalism career started by working my way up through small newspapers – first with internships at the Rochester Post-Bulletin and the Duluth News Tribune and then my first job at the New Ulm Journal.
After that, I spent four years at the Oshkosh Northwestern. During those early years, I didn’t have any data skills, but once I started learning how to make sense of government data, I was able to produce more unique stories and bring more authority to my work as a beat reporter.
There’s a general misperception that the NICAR conference, which is hosted by the non-profit Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), is only for those of us who do data journalism full-time or those of us who work solely on big projects or investigative stories.
But that is very wrong. So many of the sessions during the conference are designed for beginners — reporters or editors who want to add these skills to their current job.
The conference is loaded with an array of options in any given hour. Sometimes there can be up to eight or more different sessions to choose from– some will be panel discussions; others will be hands-on lessons sitting in front of computers. There are also numerous networking opportunities, both formally and informally.
The cost for this conference is relatively low compared to some other journalism conferences (be sure to get in on the early-bird rate, which ends Jan 21), and there is a separate price tier for early career journalists. IRE also has a few fellowship/scholarships. And you will have a huge advantage this year in that you won’t have to pay for airfare!
As a 25-year member of IRE and a devout attendee of the NICAR conference, I’m heading up a local committee to help IRE plan the conference. We’re working hard to make sure there are sessions that are especially applicable to Minnesota news topics and lots of fun activities during the evening hours. We would like to see as many of our fellow local journalists join us in Minneapolis in March!
In the meantime, if you have any questions about the conference, I’d be happy to field them. You can reach me at maryjo.webster@startribune.com
