Jasen Lo

2023

Entry type: Portfolio

Country/area: United States

Publishing organisation: Associated Press, The Philadelphia Inquirer

Organisation size: Big

Cover letter:

I’ve had the immense fortune to have been mentored by brilliant, patient editors in my one-and-a-half-year career as a data journalist, mainly because I did not have formal training as a journalist, let alone a computational one.

When I was an Asian American Journalist Voices fellow, Propublica’s Irena Hwang taught me the fundamentals of data reporting. During my time as an Associated Press intern, Justin Myers, Camille Fassett, and Angeliki Kastanis showed me how to apply rigor to my data reporting process and analyze datasets using insight gained from interviewing expert sources. Sam Morris and Dain Saint at The Philadelphia Inquirer helped me create interactive stories and maintain applications with front-end web development.

Thanks to the influences of all these mentors, I have become experienced with different tools and frameworks. A diverse skillset unlocks the ability to tell data stories in innovative ways. I look forward to building on my work last year by producing creative and rigorous work in 2023.

Description of portfolio:

My portfolio includes work I helped create at the Associated Press and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

I sourced, cleansed, and analyzed datasets during my internship at the Associated Press. I reported on national stories about the effects of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, climate change, and punitive electrical utility fees.

On the interactive team at the Philadelphia Inquirer, I created interactive presentations on topics ranging from inflation, abortion rights, and Pennsylvania politics. I also maintained web applications like election trackers and one other to help Philadelphians access tax benefits.

I want to highlight an essential aspect of my work: levity. Data stories can risk alienating audiences without a bit of liveliness to them. I leverage illustration, interaction, and animation when appropriate to keep readers engaged.