By John D. Harden
Data Reporter, The Washington Post
I've been a Washington Post data reporter since 2018.
I've investigated flaws in federal programs, the burdens community residents endure related to high parking and traffic tickets and I've helped guide the creation of the mass killings database, which tracks mass killings in which four or more people are killed, not including the shooter.
My work involves taking datasets, analyzing them and turning them into narratives that reveal the stories hidden deep in spreadsheets. My coverage area includes D.C., Maryland and Virginia. However, I've worked with several desks across the newsroom including investigative, national and foreign. I use data science methods to comb through data.
My tools of choice are R, QGIS, OpenRefine and sometimes Python.
With those tools I can clean, explore and visualize data.
I'm also familiar with SQL and Javascript. I started working for the Post in Summer 2018 after leaving the Houston Chronicle. In 2018, I was a part of the team recognized as a Pulitzer Prize finalist for its coverage of Hurricane Harvey. I was also a part of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize winning team that won for what the Pulitzer committee described as a sobering examination of the AR-15 semi-automative rifle, which forced readers to reckon with the horrors wrought by the weapon often used for mass shootings.
I managed and analyzed the database that tracked such events, providing insights into each incident.