Bowers says the most enterprising journalists understand the importance of data. He cited a comment from Scott Klein, a news application editor, who said, “’there’s almost no beat where, if you’re not keeping up with data, you’re not going to be scooped by someone who is.’ I’ve definitely found that to be true in my work.”
Bowers began his work as a data journalist while at the St. Petersburg Times, where he taught himself programming as he fixed bugs plaguing the newsroom computers. Armed with his coding abilities, he worked on the PolitiFact fact-checking site team, where he worked alongside Bill Adair, the Director of the DeWitt Wallace Center who was the founding editor of PolitiFact. Bowers helped launch PolitiFact’s network of state affiliates.
He later joined the Washington Post, where he helped create news applications, including an app that predicted the 2012 presidential elections. He then moved to NPR before joining the New York Times as a developer on the Interactive News desk, where he now works.
“Jeremy is one of the most talented data journalists in the country and we’re fortunate to have him at Duke,” said Adair. “He’s also one of the most enthusiastic journalists I know.”