WABE Awarded The Data-Driven Reporting Project Funds

Award will support investigative reporting by WABE journalist Stephannie Stokes

ATLANTA (6/23/2022)—WABE, Atlanta’s choice for NPR and PBS, today announced WABE Newsroom reporter Stephannie Stokes has earned one of 22 awards from The Data-Driven Reporting Project, a $930,000–fund supporting journalistic projects serving underrepresented communities in the United States and Canada. The award will help fund Stokes’s investigative reporting on Atlanta’s housing landscape.  

“This award gives WABE resources to really get deep into the numbers to see how lives are impacted by the challenges Atlanta faces,” said WABE Managing Editor Alex Helmick. “Our newsroom—Stephannie Stokes, in particular—understands how data can be used to expose inequities and bring to life the people directly affected by them.” 

Data-Driven Reporting Project (DDRP) funds come from a partnership between Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications and the Google News Initiative. Awardees are chosen by a panel of eight jurors trained by Medill. Google has no part in the selection of projects. 

“With our support, these journalists will be able to do the types of investigative work that can bring about meaningful change in their communities,” said Jeremy Gilbert, Medill professor and Knight Chair in Digital Media Strategy. “We are excited to welcome this first group of awardees and look forward to supporting them.” 

In addition to DDRP funds, WABE will receive specialized training and support from Medill on Google Journalist Studio tools and other resources. WABE will contribute to the project by sharing core source documents (text, audio, visual, etc.) and creating a case study about the role data and technology played in Stokes’s and other WABE journalists’ reporting.  

“Governments, companies, and individuals produce an unprecedented amount of data on the many issues that affect our lives as citizens,” said Scott Woelfel, chief content office at WABE. “Increasingly, news organizations need to mine mountains of data to get to the bottom of important stories. It’s time-consuming, labor-intensive work, and we need help. This award will aid us in expanding our data-driven reporting to serve better our mission of providing context to the stories that matter to Greater Atlanta.” 

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