Data Journalism as a Service: Digital Native Data Journalism Expertise and Product Development (original) (raw)
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Digital Journalism, 2014
Data journalism is an evolving form of investigative journalism. In previous research and handbooks published on this topic, this form of journalism has been called computer-assisted reporting and data-driven journalism, as well as precision, computational or database journalism. In Sweden, data journalism is still fairly uncommon. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the development of data journalism at seven Swedish traditional media companies, using action research methods. The content of this paper is based on an online survey of journalists and in-depth interviews with editors at these participating companies. The results indicate that, based on how this field is currently perceived by journalists in the interviews, there is a common definition of data journalism. Furthermore, the survey shows that the attitudes towards data journalism during the process of introducing new methods and genres of journalism into "old" organizations are correlated with the level of perceived experience in data journalism working methods. The main challenges facing the working methods of data journalism today are a shortage of time and the need for training and developing data journalism skills.
Digital Journalism, 2014
Data journalism has emerged as a trend worth of attention in newsrooms the world over. Previous research highlighted how elite media, journalism education institutions, and other interest groups all take part in the emergence and evolution of data journalism. But has it equally gained momentum in smaller, lessscrutinized media markets? This paper looks at the ascent of data journalism in the French-speaking part of Belgium. It argues that journalism, and hence data journalism, can be understood as a socio-discursive practice: it is not only the production of (data-driven) journalistic artefacts that shapes the notion of (data) journalism, but also the discursive efforts of all the actors involved, in and out of the newsrooms. A set of qualitative inquiries allowed us to examine the phenomenon by first establishing a cartography of who and what counts as data journalism. It uncovers an overall reliance on a handful of passionate individuals, only partly backed up institutionally, and a limited amount of consensual references that could foster a shared interpretive community. A closer examination of the definitions reveal a sharp polyphony that is particularly polarized around the duality of the term itself, divided between a focus on data and a focus on journalism and torn between the co-existing notions of 'ordinary' and 'thorough' data journalism. We also describe what is perceived as obstacles, most of which pertain to broader traits that shape contemporary newsmaking and explain why, if data journalism clearly exists as a matter of concern, it has not transformed in concrete undertakings.
Digital Journalism , 2015
Data journalism has emerged as a trend worthy of attention in newsrooms the world over. Previous research has highlighted how elite media, journalism education institutions, and other interest groups take part in the emergence and evolution of data journalism. But has it equally gained momentum in smaller, less-scrutinized media markets? This paper looks at the ascent of data journalism in the French-speaking part of Belgium. It argues that journalism, and hence data journalism, can be understood as a socio-discursive practice: it is not only the production of (data-driven) journalistic artefacts that shapes the notion of (data) journalism, but also the discursive efforts of all the actors involved, in and out of the newsrooms. A set of qualitative inquiries allowed us to examine the phenomenon by first establishing a cartography of who and what counts as data journalism. It uncovers an overall reliance on a handful of passionate individuals, only partly backed up institutionally, and a limited amount of consensual references that could foster a shared interpretive community. A closer examination of the definitions reveal a sharp polyphony that is particularly polarized around the duality of the term itself, divided between a focus on data and a focus on journalism, and torn between the co-existing notions of “ordinary” and “thorough” data journalism. We also describe what is perceived as obstacles, which mostly pertain to broader traits that shape contemporary newsmaking; and explain why, if data journalism clearly exists as a matter of concern, it has not transformed in concrete undertakings.
Models and Streams of Data Journalism
The Journal of Media Innovation, 2015
This paper presents the initial results of a two-year research project, Data Journalism Work Practices, which focuses on newsrooms in Finland, the UK and the US. Data journalism or data-driven journalism has been defined simply as journalism based on large data sets (Rogers 2011; Bounegru et al. 2012.) According to our ongoing research on data journalism work methods, we can claim this has been an over- simplification. Based on six interviews of leading Finnish, American and British data journalists we can claim that there are already at least three different models for organizing data journalism work practices, and two main streams of data journalism, not just one.
A softer kind of hard news? Data journalism and the digital renewal of public service news in Sweden
New Media & Society, 2020
Over the past decade, data journalism has received considerable attention among scholars, pointing to novel forms of investigative reporting as well as new daily practices of news production. This study contributes to existing scholarship by conceptualizing data journalism through distinctions between hard and soft news in relation to service journalism. We analyze news produced by specialized data desks in Swedish public service organizations over a 5-year period (2015-2019) and propose a model for how service journalism attributes can be used as a bridge between the binary categories of hard and soft in data journalism. With this model, we point to how data journalism in public service organizations challenges established notions of soft and hard news and how hybrid production practices open up new research trajectories concerning the societal significance of news in the digital age.
Digital Journalism Venture-backed News Startups and the Field of Journalism
This article is an empirical investigation of 18 venture-backed news startups from around the United States and Europe. The central concern here is to examine yet another new entrant to the journalism ecosystem by asking how venture-backed news startups both depart from and replicate traditional journalism. These news startups aim to solve what they see as problems with journalism in novel ways, yet their concerns mirror larger historical critiques of journalism. In this respect, news startups leave the fundamental doxa of the field mostly intact. However, their distinct technological and cultural innovations—the creation of algorithms and other news personalization efforts, the development of scalable technology such as platforms, and the elevation of technological innovation and technologists as equal to journalists—do prompt consideration about how the underlying habitus of journalists, or their sense of the “feel of the game,” may well be challenged.
Data Journalism Beyond Technological Determinism
Journalism Studies, 2021
Innovation in journalism became an important element to determine the current and future direction of the profession. Through incremental and cumulative transformations over time, because of many obstacles faced inside the newsrooms, journalism has suffered from significant and fundamental changes, including the deployment of data journalism. In Latin America, the practice has seen an increasing expansion in the last years. Nevertheless, there are important technological gaps that limit its development. The present study draws upon literature on data journalism, media management, and sociology, aiming to contribute theoretically to data journalism research. Our findings show that beyond the technological approach, practitioners are relying on data evangelists, collaboration, and audience-centered innovation to produce data storytelling in their newsrooms. On the other hand, these alliances form “homophily” and “endogamy” features that limit the dissemination of the practice, which must consider the potential implications for the social distance of the audiences. It argues that Latin American professionals are distancing themselves from technological determinism to embrace a more audience-centric innovation in newsrooms. Finally, it also states that it is important to take into account those limitations, as they pose obstacles for data journalism innovation research knowledge. The article concludes with an agenda for future research.
Digital Journalism, 2019
Although data journalism is practiced globally, data journalism research has traditionally focused on a limited set of countries, primarily within the liberal and democratic corporatist media systems. Many recently published studies illustrate a growing scholarly interest in data journalism in other parts of the world, but these studies are still limited in number. This special issue brings together five new empirical studies of data journalism around the world, as well as two commentaries and two book reviews on the topic with the aim of broadening the theoretical, empirical, and geographic perspectives on data journalism. The core of the special issue consists of five national and comparative case studies studying data journalism in Africa, the Arab world, Italy, the UK, and Argentina. Combined, these articles and the other publications in this special issue point to three important contextual factors that shape data journalism worldwide: journalistic cultures, media markets, and the political environment. After a discussion of each of these three factors, areas for future research are proposed.
What is Data Journalism For? Cash, Clicks, and Cut and Trys
The Data Journalism Handbook (2nd Edition), 2018
Permalink: https://datajournalismhandbook.org/handbook/two/reflections/what-is-data-journalism-for-cash-clicks-and-cut-and-trys This critique I offer flows largely from a Western-centered perspective, if not-US centered perch, but that does not undermine the essential call to action I put forward: data journalists are still sitting on a potentially revolutionary toolbox for journalism that has yet to be unleashed. The revolution, however, if executed poorly, only stands to further undermine both the user-experience and knowledge-seeking efforts of news consumers, and at worst, further seed distrust in news. If data journalism just continues to look like it has looked for the past five to ten years, then data journalism does little to advance the cause of journalism in the digital and platform era. Thus, to start asking this existential question about “What is data journalism for?” I propose, that data journalists, along with less-data focused but web-immersed journalists who work in video, audio, and code, as well as the scholars that poke and prod them, need to rethink data journalism’s origin story, its present rationale, and its future.
The Datafication of Newsrooms: A Study on Data Journalism Practices in a British Newspaper
Journalism and Media, 2024
This study investigates the function of data journalism in a UK newsroom using Bourdieu’s field theory. The collection of study data was conducted through in-depth interviews, utilising a qualitative research methodology. The data obtained revealed that data journalism, a sub-field of journalism, continues to develop in an interdisciplinary structure and creates a new type of habitus (data habitus) within the field of journalism. This study also shows that the data journalism team in the newspaper has moved from being niche to being established as one of the most active and effective main sections of the newsroom, and that data-driven journalism has the potential to influence other teams. Lastly, this study suggested that the newsroom is undergoing a process of datafication by indicating the newspaper’s intention to develop data skills beyond the data journalism team.