Computer-assisted reporting
Computer-assisted reporting (CAR) is when reporters use computers to gather and analyze data to write stories. It includes using databases, spreadsheets, geographic information systems, online research, and email interviews. CAR is part of precision journalism, which brings social science methods into news reporting.
The idea goes back to 1952, when CBS used a UNIVAC I computer to analyze election returns. A famous early example is 1967, after Detroit’s riots, when Philip Meyer showed that education level didn’t predict who rioted. By the 1980s, databases became a central tool for reporters. In 1969, Meyer published Precision Journalism, urging reporters to use databases and surveys. The 2002 edition said that a journalist should be a database manager.
By 2001, computers were common in American newsrooms, making online research and data searching routine. Journalists then started using computers to analyze large sets of government records. Early pioneers include Clarence Jones of The Miami Herald (1969), who looked for patterns in the criminal justice system; David Burnham of The New York Times (1972), who exposed discrepancies in crime rates; Elliot Jaspin of The Providence Journal (1986), who matched databases for drivers with bad histories and criminal records; and Bill Dedman of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (1988), whose series The Color of Money explored mortgage lending discrimination in middle‑income black neighborhoods.
In recent years, organizations like the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR) and the Danish International Center for Analytical Reporting (DICAR) promote CAR. Many newsrooms offer CAR training, and journalists share ideas through mailing lists such as NICAR-L, CARR-L, and JAGIS-L.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 06:00 (CET).