INQFocus: The numbers have stories to tell

As the name suggests, INQFocus is about closeups and more.

News captures the day-to-day events that matter in our daily lives but INQFocus seeks to step into the heart of these events to look at them more closely to see the stories that numbers, data and facts tell beyond the who, what, where and when convention of news reporting.

As photography is to scenes, faces and landscapes, INQFocus strives to be for numbers, data, facts and the human stories behind them.

INQFocus may be characterized as data journalism which, while not entirely inaccurate, is not what this feature or channel in INQUIRER.NET seeks to do alone.

At its inception, INQFocus came at a time when INQUIRER.NET, though already a leader in online delivery of news, was in search of deeper content that would go beyond just quoting the day’s source of news but peel layer by layer what the news really means to the reader.

INQFocus takes more than a close look at the numbers, data, facts that government offices churn out on a regular basis. It takes a longer look at studies, research work, papers that scholars, experts, scientists and those in the know write for an audience of peers but are alien scripts for the layman.

By doing so, INQFocus seeks to bring the magnifying glass closer to papers or documents that hold the key to information relevant to readers, be they the mother who worries every day if her budget for the family’s food is enough or the mid-level executive staring at production numbers on her table.

It seeks to do the same to government pronouncements, policies, announcements on one hand and allegations of wrongdoing by government critics or detractors on the other, seeking to strike a balance and always keeping faith that numbers, data and facts cannot lie and are not meant to be interpreted in ways other than the truths that they present.

INQFocus tries to distinguish between fact and opinion, heeding a principle that the highly-esteemed US senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan so eloquently captured in words addressed to a fellow American senator—“You are entitled to your own opinion but you are not entitled to your own facts.”

With two brilliant researchers-writers—Cristina Eloisa Baclig and Kurt Dela Peña—INQFocus tries to pierce abstract numbers, dig deep into scientific studies, peel away at government jargon and fuzzy policies with murky numbers to try to present a clear picture of what’s happening around us.

At INQFocus, as it is in the entire INQUIRER.net, we aim for high traffic or page views believing that the bigger the audience we reach, the more effective we become in being storytellers, the kind that narrate truths and realities.

We also aim for excellence, though, the type that isn’t measured by clicks or views but recognition by peers. In this endeavor, INQFocus has had some success, gaining citation from the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, a nonprofit organization devoted to the promotion of good journalism.

Yet, some of the works of Kurt and Cristina are able, as the expression goes, to hit two birds with one stone—high traffic and citations for excellence.

For Cristina, here are some of her reports that were able to achieve those:

For Kurt, here’s the list:

Kurt’s works cited by CMFR included:

As grayness in text exudes an air of boredom, INQFocus also incorporates graphics in its reports, hoping these would draw readers’ interests not only in the stories we try to tell, but in the numbers and data that these stories often hide.

Through the keen eyes and deft craftsmanship of INQFocus graphic artist Ed Lustan, the numbers and data come to life.

While young in comparison with other excellent channels of INQUIRER.net, INQFocus has achieved one thing needed to continue the quest for good journalism and deserve its place in the INQUIRER.net family—make its presence felt.

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