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Data Journalist

Also known as: Computational Journalist, Data Reporter, Visual Data Journalist, Interactive News Developer

AI Impact Score

42/100

Data journalists are among the best-positioned media professionals in the AI era because their core skills — finding stories in data, questioning methodology, and translating complexity for public audiences — are skills AI accelerates but cannot replace. AI tools dramatically speed up data cleaning, pattern detection, and chart generation, freeing data journalists to focus on the harder editorial questions: what does this mean, why does it matter, and what story serves the public interest. Demand for rigorous data-driven accountability journalism is growing across newsrooms, think tanks, and investigative outlets.

$48k – $110k

Salary Range

growing

Growth Outlook

18,000

Total Jobs (US)

+6%

Growth Rate

Task Breakdown

Tasks at Risk (4)

Routine data cleaning and formattingBasic chart and graph generationBoilerplate data summary writingStandard records request drafting

AI-Enhanced Tasks (4)

Pattern and anomaly detection in large datasetsNatural language querying of databasesInteractive visualization buildingAutomated public records tracking

Human-Safe Tasks (5)

Story conception from raw dataMethodological scrutiny and validationContextualizing statistics for non-technical readersSource interviews around data findingsEthical decisions about sensitive data publication