{
  "id": "1998-august-a-few-good-cars",
  "slug": "1998-august-a-few-good-cars",
  "url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1998-august-a-few-good-cars.html",
  "year": 1998,
  "month": "August",
  "monthNum": 8,
  "headline": "A FEW GOOD CARs",
  "kicker": "Training gains ground",
  "author_name": "Karie Hollerbach",
  "author_title": "",
  "affiliation": "Southeast Missouri State University",
  "summary": "Journalism schools are increasingly teaching computer-assisted reporting (CAR) skills, but many programs don't require students to take these courses despite managing editors actively seeking recruits with data analysis capabilities. A 1996-97 survey found that while 85% of universities teach CAR, qualified faculty shortages remain a significant barrier to widespread adoption.",
  "keywords": [
    "journalism",
    "computer",
    "reporting"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Investigative Methods",
    "Journalism & Newsroom",
    "Education"
  ],
  "technologies": [
    "Internet"
  ],
  "full_text": "Newsroom managing editors expect basic skills from new recruits with freshly minted journalism school degrees. At the top of the list usually is the ability not only to write but to write well. Working a beat is important, as is generating story ideas. And let's not forget interviewing technique, basic copy editing skills, and the motivation to get it first and get it right.\n\nBut what about computer-assisted reporting skills? Are managing editors actively seeking recruits who can demonstrate that they have spent some time in front of a PC analyzing data and looking for a story? Are undergraduate journalism programs teaching students the CAR skills they need to meet the expectations of managing editors?\n\nSprouting media\n\nCAR's impact on print journalism has been growing steadily since the early 1990s. A 1992 survey of 192 daily newspaper editors found that more than half of the newspaper readers in the U.S received newspapers that were doing stories with computer-assisted record analysis, not only for special projects but for beat reporting as well.\n\nThe top two reasons given by the editors for not using CAR were a lack of equipment and a lack of skilled personnel. One editor commented that his impression was that university journalism programs were behind the curve on this new trend of computer analysis.\n\nStunted schools\n\nA national survey of journalism schools, also completed in 1992-93, indicated that the majority of universities had no formal CAR instruction nor plans to add it. Of the 258 responding schools, 24 percent taught some form of record analysis while 13 percent offered formal instruction in online database searching.\n\nBetty Medsger's nationwide study on journalism education for the Freedom Forum in 1996 found that computer skill education had become more widespread 87 percent of the journalism programs surveyed offered some type of it. Special courses had been created at 35 percent of the institutions surveyed, while 72 percent had included it in existing courses. However, only one-third of the journalism programs offering computer instruction of any kind required journalism majors to take those courses.\n\nSupply and demand\n\nIn an exploratory study I conducted in 1996-97, both university journalism/communication departments and newspaper managing editors were surveyed simultaneously to determine the current supply and demand of CAR skills.\n\nUniversities teaching CAR in their programs and newspapers practicing CAR ranked differently - though the differences were not statistically significant the most important skills for journalism students to master: Internet use, database use, data acquisition, statistical analyses, and spreadsheet use.\n\nNearly 85 percent of the universities said that they were teaching CAR. Of those not currently teaching CAR in their programs, 82 percent said they had future plans to do so. A lack of qualified faculty was the most frequent reason given for not teaching CAR. No one indicated that a lack of equipment posed a barrier to CAR's entrance into their program.\n\nNearly 42 percent of the newspapers surveyed said that they were using CAR. Special projects and investigative reporting topped the list as the most frequent uses of CAR, but CAR as a part of daily news coverage was reported at 50 percent. Internet use was a frequently expected skill not only of new journalism school recruits but also of current staff members. A lack of funds and a lack of qualified staff were the most frequently reported reason for not using CAR. Whether CAR is actively being taught or used, the skill sets valued by both university programs and newspapers are relatively the same. The real key is in teaching students how to apply those CAR skills. Progress is really made when journalism students can enter a newsroom prepared to conduct computer-assisted reporting at the touch of a button.",
  "provenance": {
    "extracted_by": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "extracted_at": "2026-07-05",
    "verified": true
  },
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  "html_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1998-august-a-few-good-cars.html",
  "json_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/1998-august-a-few-good-cars.json"
}