Charles Minshew

Teaching & training

Teaching

I've trained more than 1,000 journalists around the world — from first spreadsheet to R, SQL, mapping, and data visualization, and now AI-assisted investigative reporting — through IRE and NICAR conferences, bootcamps, newsroom trainings, and university classrooms.

Ongoing

  • AI Tools for Investigative Journalism — IRE & NICAR

    Investigative Reporters & Editors · 2023 – present

    Designed and taught sessions on AI and generative AI tools for journalists at NICAR and IRE annual conferences since 2023 — including AI coaching tools and web scraping with AI assistance at NICAR 2026 in Indianapolis.

  • AI Workshop — Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting

    Co-facilitator, with Tyler Dukes (McClatchy) · Atlanta · 2025 – present

    A full-day workshop covering prompt engineering, custom GPTs, and AI-assisted workflows for ten investigative journalism fellows.

  • Newsroom training — The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

    2022 – present

    Train newsroom staff on the latest tools for data and investigative reporting, including AI-assisted reporting techniques, and consult reporters on public records requests for electronic data.

  • IRE & NICAR conference sessions

    Investigative Reporters & Editors · 2017 – present

    Regular hands-on instructor at IRE's national conferences, teaching data analysis and visualization in Excel, SQL, R, Tableau, and more.

Program leadership

  • Dow Jones News Fund — Data Journalism residency

    Co-residency Director · 2017 – 2022

    Reviewed applications for DJNF's data journalism internship program and led week-long training sessions for approximately 20 interns per year, preparing them for newsrooms across the country.

University teaching

  • Adjunct instructor, Missouri School of Journalism

    University of Missouri · 2021 – 2022

    Taught JOURN 1400, Applied Projects in Journalism & Strategic Communication — students' first hands-on multimedia projects before newsroom courses.

  • Guest lectures

    Missouri School of Journalism · 2018 – 2020

    Lectures on information graphics and computer-assisted reporting, including "Understanding COVID-19 data" and "Data journalism in the wild."

Bootcamps & newsroom trainings, 2017 – 2021

  • 2021

    Virtual bootcamps in Google Sheets, SQL, and R. Custom training for newsrooms in Florida, Iowa, Maryland, Illinois, Georgia, Tennessee, and West Virginia, plus international clients in Australia and Trinidad & Tobago.

  • 2020

    In-person newsroom trainings in Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, and Macon, Ga.; hands-on training at the 2020 CAR Conference in New Orleans.

  • 2019

    Newsroom trainings in Phoenix; Orlando; Ames, Iowa; and Waterloo and York, Ontario. Watchdog workshops in Honolulu and St. Petersburg, Fla. Data journalism bootcamps in Columbia, Mo., and Seattle.

  • 2018

    Newsroom trainings in Orlando, Portland, and Eugene, Ore.; Reporting with R Boot Camp in Chicago; CAR Boot Camp at the University of Indianapolis.

  • 2017

    Joined IRE as Director of Data Services; presentations for the Illinois News Broadcasters Association and training at IRE bootcamps and workshops.