This is a critique of a graphics story from the WSJ.
Data journalism work from The Wall Street Journal, Feb. 23, 2017.
Think a Negative Tweet From Trump Crushes a Stock? Think Again
By Akane Otani and Shane Shifflett
Critique
By Aileen Chuang
I like the theme of the piece as the reporters deducted a rather boring topic – stock market – into a newsy and interesting data story. Having said that, the intended audience has expanded from corporate executives and people who care about the stock market to the general public and people who pay (even tiny) attention to Trump’s tweets.
However, after normal people like me clicking into the web page, the big and scary three lines could be arcane at first. The reporters do a good job in explaining and naming the line that they evaluated as “Trump Target Index.” And when we hover the words, the chart highlights the line, which is clear.
Speaking of clarity, the evaluation of companies in the second part of the piece is all about that. But I think it’s not sexy to read and stay on the page. It should accommodate people’s interests in the subject. For example, it could have a drop-down bottom for people to choose a certain company mentioned by Trump that they want to see. Then, the small chart, the tweet and the company respond could pop up. Or, it could leave Trump’s tweet on screen for people to click on/hover. I think it would be more interesting than asking people to just scroll down the page.