Daniel Wheaton is the data reporter for the Midwest Newsroom, a collaboration of public radio stations in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri. In this role, he collaborates with station reporters across the region on data-driven reporting projects, obtaining public records and producing data visualizations. The core stations involved in this collaboration are KCUR 98.3, St. Louis Public Radio, Iowa Public Radio and Nebraska Public Media News, with additional partnerships including Harvest Public Media, Kansas News Service, Side Effects Public Media and Missouri Water & Ag Desk. He has been with Nebraska Public Media since 2021.

Before joining Nebraska Public Media, Daniel worked as a graphics and data reporter at The San Diego Union-Tribune from 2016 to 2021. There, he focused on breaking news graphics and data visualization and hosted the daily news podcast "San Diego News Fix." Earlier in his career, he was a Data Reporting Fellow at the Omaha World-Herald, where he analyzed data, wrote code and built news applications as part of Nebraska’s largest data journalism team.

Daniel is also a part-time alumni speech coach and lecturer at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Since 2022, he has helped coach a team of over 20 undergraduates in competitive collegiate forensics. Beginning in 2023, he taught courses in visual communication, guiding students through advanced modules and multimedia group projects.

His previous roles include volunteer speech and debate coach at Lincoln Southwest High School and Investigations Intern at Newsday Media Group, where he contributed to an investigative story on Nassau County’s assessment grievance system.

Daniel holds a Bachelor's degree in Journalism and a Master's degree in Geographic Information Science and Cartography from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His skills include graphic design, information design, project management, data analysis and proficiency in tools like R, datawrapper and ArcGIS Pro.