Eli Murray selected as winner of 2024 College of Media Emerging Leader Award

A multimedia piece about an avalanche in Washington published by the New York Times in 2012, which included video, interactive graphics, and animated simulations, changed the way newsrooms presented storytelling. 

It also inspired Media alum and Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter Eli Murray (BS ’15, journalism) to think about a career as a data journalist. 

“I was in college when the New York Times published ‘Snow Fall’ and it was ground-breaking. It was the first time I had ever seen a story like that and so I felt really inspired and [felt] that was something I wanted to pursue,” Murray said.

Murray would go on to excel at visual storytelling, first at the Tampa Bay Times, where he would earn a Pulitzer Prize in Investigative Reporting in 2022, and now at the New York Times as a graphics editor. 

The College of Media is honoring Murray’s early career accomplishments and his engagement with the college, selecting him as the recipient of the 2024 College of Media Emerging Leader Award. 

“In addition to his outstanding journalistic achievements, Eli Murray has returned to campus to share his expertise with the College of Media, at events for students and for the public,” said Dean Tracy Sulkin. “He is wonderfully deserving of this year’s Emerging Leader Award.”

Murray considers himself lucky to have discovered the potential of data journalism as a student at the University of Illinois and says visual elements allow a journalist to reach a wider audience.

“I think a story that is just [relying on] data is not as strong as it can be, but I think that a story that is just about anecdotes and about people is also not as strong as it can be,” he added. 

In his current role, Murray uses code to pull data from websites and public records, crunch and analyze numbers, and create visual elements to tell stories. 

“I really do feel strongly that visuals are important in journalism, and I think that the New York Times is really setting the standard for what people can do visually in online journalism,” Murray said.

Murray is also an adjunct professor at the University of South Florida, teaching students how to code JavaScript from scratch in an online data visualization course. He’s hoping to inspire more students to consider a career in data journalism.

Murray’s interest in data journalism was bolstered during a news design class his junior year with Eric Meyer, retired associate professor of journalism. During a weeklong segment on WordPress, students learned about coding in HTML and CSS. 

“I really enjoyed that. It just clicked for me, and I recognized that I could use these skills to do journalism,” Murray said.

Murray got a few books and taught himself how to code. During his senior year, he worked at The Daily Illini as a beat reporter and then as a web developer. 

He credits his time at the DI with helping him grow his skills, build his confidence, and produce clips to land his first job after graduation.

While researching a story, Murray says it can often be difficult to figure out what the information is trying to tell you, so early on he visualizes the facts through charts and graphics.

Murray compares the process of exploring data through visuals to shucking oysters and looking for pearls. 

“You may open a hundred oysters and find two pearls in there but those are the two graphics that you can bring forward and say, ‘These are saying something enlightening. These are the ones that I’m going to share with readers,’” Murray said. 

Murray and two colleagues at the Tampa Bay Times published “Poisoned” in 2021, a six-part series uncovering the truth about dangerous lead levels at a battery recycling plant in Florida. 

Murray, who became a certified lead inspector throughout the course of his research, spent nearly two years building a database from thousands of pages of PDFs and analyzing the results. 

The reporting, which garnered Murray and his team a Pulitzer Prize, led to the implementation of new safety regulations to better protect the lives of workers and nearby residents.

Although Murray says he’s most confident working with facts and figures, affecting real change in the lives of people is the most gratifying aspect of his job. 

When he was interviewing the wife of a factory worker whose son had experienced the detrimental effects of lead poisoning, Murray realized the significance of telling their story. 

“To [the family], it was their whole entire life,” Murray said. “[Their] entire life revolved around getting care for [their] son who was lead poisoned and so that just made it really concrete to me. The reason we do this is for people, and going forward it makes me to want to put more emphasis on that side of things in my own work.”

Murray has always been motivated to find the objective truth. He advises those starting out in their journalism careers to go into a story with an open mind and be willing to go where the story takes you. 

“It’s important to be able to pivot when new information comes in and to be able to talk to people who disagree with the things that you’re seeing on the ground,” he said.

As a young reporter who has already won the most prestigious award in journalism, Murray’s career goals remain unchanged.

“I wouldn't say that there's any more pressure than there was at any [other] time,” he said. “Fortunately, I'm pretty early in my career, so I hope I've got enough time to keep doing more good work.”

—Kelly Youngblood