ABSTRACT
Knowing how to build a database is a skill that helps journalists practicing computer-assisted reporting (CAR) because it means people do not have to rely only on databases created by others. By building own database, Helena Bengtsson and Jenny Nordberg joined hundreds of other reporters in the United States and throughout the world over the past two decades in learning to effectively create databases for better journalism. Journalists outside the United States often have significantly less access to data in their countries and find that they need to get paper records and enter information from those records into a spreadsheet or database manager. For smaller amounts of information, a spreadsheet is a good tool with which to build a database. A database manager is designed to deal with more complex information. It also can streamline data entry by allowing people to use a relational database that enables them to enter basic information once rather than many times.
