A journalist and a programmer all in one

Is there such a person out there? I hope so, and I know I could certainly use one. I know enough code to be dangerous and am willing to play around, but I am nowhere near where I would like to be.

But this is pretty cool. I came across this on MediaShift’s Idea Lab, which credits the Knight News Challenge in helping the Medill School of Journalism to offer scholarships for people with programming backgrounds who want to be journalist too.

We’re looking for skilled coders who want to explore ways of applying technology to improve journalism, create a better-informed public, invent new forms of storytelling or build new media products.

The marketing slogan is catchy and real to me. It boils down to giving coders, programmers or whatever you want to call them “a chance to change the world” using their skills in an industry that is in dire need of them.

Tags: coder