ABSTRACT
Journalists have had to become more sophisticated in analyzing documents, email, social media, and other forms of unstructured data. Freedom of information requests can result in tens of thousands of pages of memos and emails that need to be analyzed accurately and speedily. Social media posts and tweets offer an incredible amount of tips and information when downloaded and analyzed. Journalists want to use social media for news gathering and analysis, and simpler tools are being developed. Currently, some of the best tools require coding abilities but there are non-coding ways to do that within the social media themselves, and with some free applications. A journalist sometimes forgets what a powerful resource social media is for reporting because a journalist has used social media more for communicating with family and friends. In addition, it is good to know some of the basic tips and tools for getting news and background of people, organizations, and places.
