How USC is transforming local journalists into data storytelling powerhouses

... because we can tell stories about every neighborhood, not just every city … the question is, how do we actually get [the stories] that last mile, right? So we developed a newsletter platform that allows us to write one version of a newsletter and then create, in Los Angeles, 114 different editions of it, or in Chicago, 77, or Raleigh, 18 or whatever, right?”

Gabriel Kahn, co-founder of Xtown Media LLC and professor at USC-Annenberg

As a professor of professional practice of journalism at USC-Annenberg and a former newspaper editor, correspondent and bureau chief at multiple places across the world, Gabriel Kahn knows a thing or two about journalism.

But data science? That was a little outside his expertise. No matter. He knew the right people on campus. With the help of his data science colleagues, he’s created new journalism tools he hopes will dramatically improve the efficiency of data-driven journalism at the neighborhood level within large markets across the U.S.

Tapping the expertise of colleagues at the university, Kahn and his team (which founded a company called Xtown Media, LLC) have built technology that scrapes publicly available data from local jurisdictions and empowers journalists to tell engaging and essential stories in a fraction of the time it would take otherwise.

In addition to this user-friendly dashboard, which kicks out charts and graphs, Xtown has developed software to deliver location-specific newsletters to people in those neighborhoods. The one-two punch of more efficient data-driven journalism and the ability to micro-target end users could have far-reaching implications in local media.

The dashboard compiles the data, removing the requirement to send off a public records request for information. The idea, Kahn says, is turning every journalist into a data journalist.

The power of the tools can be seen on the website Crosstown LA, found at xtown.la.

Here are a few headlines that led the front page in mid-January:

• Los Angeles sees fewer than 300 murders for first time in five years
• Six charts to understand the spike in L.A. County hate crimes
• Election turnout tumbled this year in Los Angeles County
• Amid L.A.’s deep housing crisis, fewer apartments are being permitted

This Xtown chart shows burglaries in every Chicago neighborhood organized by most to least.

The data goes well beyond crime, politics and housing, though those are important and popular topics. Kahn shared that Xtown collects less obvious information, such as missed trash pickups, water usage and pool permits. During the pandemic, the dashboard could break down COVID-19 data by neighborhood.

Data can be organized to look at trends over time, by neighborhood and in some cases by race. For example, the database pointed journalists to a story about how marijuana arrests of black individuals increased even after recreational marijuana use was legalized.

The Xtown chart captures burglaries in every Chicago neighborhood by month over the past year.

The data can point out surprising trends that would not have otherwise been unearthed under traditional news gathering.

“Then the other thing that we realized is because we can tell stories about every neighborhood, not just every city … the question is, how do we actually get [the stories] that last mile, right? So we developed a newsletter platform that allows us to write one version of a newsletter and then create, in Los Angeles, 114 different editions of it, or in Chicago, 77, or Raleigh, 18 or whatever, right?”

The newsletter program allows writers to pull data and write about the trend. It will generate code that can be imported into the body copy, creating a composition template that enables the writer to produce 114 location-targeted newsletters simultaneously. The email includes a subject line with the name of the neighborhood. Kahn said the combination can lead to open rates of up to 90%.

Future iterations of the technology will use AI to allow journalists to ask questions about what trends or unusual patterns appear in the data, Kahn said.

The technology has been in different stages since 2018. The dashboard made its first appearance in 2019. In 2020, Kahn and his team received a Google News Initiative grant to develop the newsletter platform just in time for the pandemic.

Xtown is being used by a handful of news organizations in different markets.

Bob Miller has spent more than 25 years in local newsrooms, including 12 years as an executive editor with Rust Communications. Bob also produces an independent true crime investigative podcast called The Lawless Files.