Guardian's Simon Rogers to join Twitter as data editor

The editor of the Guardian's datablog and datastore, Simon Rogers, is moving to San Francisco to take up the role of data editor at Twitter at the end of May.

Rogers, who set up the datablog at the Guardian in 2009, will relocate to San Francisco, with the Guardian's James Ball to take over as editor of the datablog and datastore.

Rogers has won a number of awards for his data journalism work, including a Royal Statistical Society award for statistical excellence in journalism online in August last year. He was also given the XCity award in 2011 from his former university, City University, London, in recognition for "an outstanding contribution to journalism in terms of making a difference in the way news and features are written or presented".

He first joined the Guardian in 1998, and was the launch editor of GuardianUnlimited.co.uk before moving to the newsdesk for the newspaper in September 2001, the day before the attack on the twin towers in New York.

In a blog post today announcing the move to Twitter, he referred to joining the newsdesk on 10 September 2001. Rogers said: "The events of the next day and the months after created an unprecedented demand for instant news and analysis".

"On a personal level, it changed my career path: before then I saw stories in terms of words; working with the Guardian's graphics team in the aftermath taught me that there were new ways to tell those stories and that data journalism was one of the most effective."

He described having spent "nearly 15 inspiring years at the Guardian" and that "a lot has changed since 1998 when I joined as editor of NewsUnlimited, the then-titled GuardianUnlimited's news section".

"Since then, there has been a revolution in the way news is presented and absorbed", he said.

He added that "it's a wrench to leave the Datablog – and a talented team in Ami Sedghi, John Burn-Murdoch and James Ball".

The role of data editor at Twitter is a newly created position, he said. "Twitter has become such an important element in the way we work as journalists.

"It's impossible to ignore, and increasingly at the heart of every major event, from politics to sport and entertainment. As data editor, I'll be helping to explain how this phenomenon works.

"And I can't imagine a better job than getting to tell stories based on some of the most amazing data around."

Reflecting on the launch of other datablogs and datastores at regional news outlets in particular, Rogers told Journalism.co.uk that he is "really inspired in the way that journalists such as Claire Miller are using data around the country".

"The mainstream media will have to work hard to catch up."

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