Table Of ContentData for Journalism
Considering the interactions between developments in open data and
data journalism, Data for Journalism: Between Transparency and Ac-
countability offers an interdisciplinary a ccount of this complex and
uncertain relationship in a context of tightening the control over data
and weighing transparency against privacy.
As data has brought both promise and disruptive changes to soci-
eties, the relationship between transparency and accountability has
become complicated, and data journalism is practised alongside the
contradictory needs of opening up and protecting data. In addition
to exploring the benefits of data for journalism, this book addresses
the uncertain nature of data and the obstacles preventing data from
being fluently accessed and properly used for data reporting. Because
of these obstacles, it argues individual data journalists play a deci-
sive role in using data for journalism and facilitating the circulation
of data. Frictions in data access, newsrooms’ resources and cultures
and data journalists’ skill and data literacy levels determine the degree
to which journalism can benefit from data, and these factors poten-
tially exacerbate digital inequalities between newsrooms in different
countries and with different resources. As such, the author takes an
international perspective, drawing on empirical research and cases
from around the world, including countries such as the UK, the US,
Germany, Sweden, Australia, India, China and Japan.
Introducing a new dimension to the study of developments in jour-
nalism and the role of journalism in society, Data for Journalism will
be of interest to academics and researchers in the fields of journalism
and the sociology of (big and open) data.
Jingrong Tong is Senior Lecturer in Digital News Cultures at the
University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on the impact of digital
technology on journalism, social media analysis and environmental
communication.
Disruptions: Studies in Digital Journalism
Series editor: Bob Franklin
Disruptions refers to the radical changes provoked by the affordances of
digital technologies that occur at a pace and on a scale that d isrupts set-
tled understandings and traditional ways of creating value, interacting
and communicating both socially and professionally. The consequences
for digital journalism involve far reaching changes to business models,
professional practices, roles, ethics, products and even challenges to
the accepted definitions and understandings of journalism. For Digital
Journalism Studies, the field of academic inquiry which explores and
examines digital journalism, disruption results in paradigmatic and
tectonic shifts in scholarly concerns. It prompts reconsideration of re-
search methods, theoretical analyses and responses (oppositional and
consensual) to such changes, which have been described as being akin
to ‘a moment of mind-blowing uncertainty’.
Routledge’s book series, Disruptions: Studies in Digital Journalism,
seeks to capture, examine and analyse these moments of exciting and
explosive professional and scholarly innovation, which characterize
developments in the day-to-day practice of journalism in an age of
digital media, and which are articulated in the newly emerging aca-
demic discipline of Digital Journalism Studies.
Digital-Native News and the Remaking of Latin American Mainstream
and Alternative Journalism
Summer Harlow
Data for Journalism
Between Transparency and Accountability
Jingrong Tong
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.
com/Disruptions/book-series/DISRUPTDIGJOUR
Data for Journalism
Between Transparency
and Accountability
Jingrong Tong
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Jingrong Tong
The right of Jingrong Tong to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Tong, Jingrong, author.
Title: Data for journalism : potential, obstacles and the circulation
of data / Jingrong Tong.
Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York :
Routledge, 2023. |
Series: Disruptions | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2022013336 (print) | LCCN 2022013337 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780367466343 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032324432 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003030089 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Journalism—Data processing. | Electronic news
gathering. | Computer-assisted reporting.
Classification: LCC PN4784.E5 T66 2023 (print) | LCC PN4784.E5
(ebook) | DDC 070.4/0285—dc23/eng/20220526
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022013336
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022013337
ISBN: 9780367466343 (hbk)
ISBN: 9781032324432 (pbk)
ISBN: 9781003030089 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003030089
Typeset in Times New Roman
by codeMantra
Contents
List of figures vii
List of tables ix
List of abbreviations xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction 1
1 Data as a source of information 7
Understanding data 7
The abundance of data and its benefits 11
The uncertainty and messiness of data 13
Concerns and challenges 17
Comparing data with traditional sources of
information 30
2 Access to data 34
Accessing open data in the public sector 35
Collaborating with data holders in the private sector 39
FOI practices and the undisclosed secrets 41
Alternative ways of getting data 49
Struggles and pushing for data of quality
and openness 54
3 Using data in journalism 61
From data teams to lone wolves: the uneven
development of data journalism in the world 62
What is data used for in journalism? 72
vi Contents
Handling the problems of data and potential
issues in data reporting 79
Explaining the variations 85
4 Opening up data from news reporting 89
Data journalism as alternative data
producers and holders 89
Sharing is caring 90
Why choosing not to publish data 95
Data as financial resources 96
Conclusion: The four roles of data journalists in
the circulation of data 100
References 103
Index 123
List of Figures
2.1 Number of FOIA cases filed by news
organisations and reporters in the US.
Compiled from the FOIA project 43
2.2 Trend over time of six UK national
newspapers’ news articles containing
“Freedom of Information request” OR “FOI
request” in the Nexis database 2018–2020 48
3.1 Numbers and types of topics per newspaper 67
List of Tables
1.1 A summary of the features of data as a source
of information in comparison with traditional
sources of information 31
2.1 Four major types of data used in data stories 37
3.1 Data journalists credited in the by-lines 65
3.2 The top five news agendas in data stories
published by the data team of The Guardian
between 2018 and 2020 74
3.3 Prominent topics of local UK news reports
using the data analysis provided by the
BBC’s shared data unit 75
