VDJ6400 AI-journalism: Follow the money using data journalism Course description

Basic economic knowledge is pivotal for journalists reporting and understanding of contemporary societies. In this course, students will learn basic economics, statistics, and accounting to do investigative journalism on economic issues and finance. Using companies as cases, students will learn to reflect critically on economics and analyse financial statements.

Language of instruction is English.

For this class, it is recommended to have a general knowledge of basic statistics and basic data analysis skills. Introductory knowledge of basic programming can be also beneficial to implement more advanced/sophisticated investigation of datasets.

After completing the course, the student should have the following overall learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student has knowledge of:

• the role of economics in contemporary societies

• the accessibility of economic and financial information in both the public and the private sector

• basic accounting and economics

• basic economic theory

Skills

The student can:

• identify newsworthy information in budgets and financial statements

• find and access sources of economic and financial information

• present economic and financial information in an accessible way

General competence

The student can:

• critically reflect upon the impact and role of economy in contemporary society

• critically reflect upon the role of journalism for public understandings of economic and financial mechanisms

The course is organized in gatherings of tuition, with lectures, workshops, group presentations and discussions.

The following coursework requirements must have been approved in order for the student to take the exam:

• Coursework 1: Home exercises using cases connected to the theory covered in class. Total scope around 2500 words. The purpose of these exercises is to familiarize the student with the topic. Class discussions will follow up to clarify the concepts.

The required coursework must be completed and approved by the given deadline in order for the student to take the exam. If the coursework requirement has not been approved, the student will be given one opportunity to submit a new submission by the given deadline.

The exam in the course is an individual home exam over a period of 3 days. The exam paper must have a scope of 3000 to 4000 words. Font and font size: Arial / Calibri 12 points. Line spacing: 1.5

All aids are permitted, as long as the rules for source referencing are complied with.

Grade scale A - F

The exam papers are assessed by one internal and one external examiner. At least 25% of the exam papers will be assessed by two examiners. The grades awarded for the papers assessed by two examiners form the basis for determining the level for all the exam papers.

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