Stuff Journalists Like – #94 Infographics

If a photo is worth a thousand words, how much is an infographic worth?

Sometimes it’s hard to put into words the events of a news story – that’s when infographics come to the rescue.

Journalists wished they lived in a world where readers were enthralled by just words (they also wished they lived in a world where they didn’t have to write at a third-grade reading level). But sadly journalists know that readers like pictures. Whether it’s explaining a complicated subject matter or when dealing with lots of numbers, journalists know infographics can be quite handy. Just ask USA Today.

Every journalist has been saved by at least one infrographic. What? The editor called for a 500-inch story on teacher salaries and the best you could muster up was 320 inches? Sounds like a time to call for an infographic.   It’s another sidebar that journalists don’t have to write.

Unlike the pie charts and bar graphs of the past, today’s infographics are more info-y and a lot more graph-y. Today’s infographics are definitely not created by journalists who took a crash course on Illustrator two hours before deadline.

Sometimes it’s hard for journalists to admit but infographics sometimes help make it easier to digest the news.  Wonder why journalists still have indigestion.



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