Models and Streams of Data Journalism

Authors

  • Turo I Uskali Department of Communication/University of Jyväskylä
  • Heikki Kuutti Department of Communication/University of Jyväskylä

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5617/jmi.v2i1.882

Keywords:

Journalism Innovations, Data Journalism, Data Journalist, Work Methods, Newsrooms, Investigative Reporting, Interview

Abstract

This paper presents the initial results of a two-year research project, the Data Journalism Work Practices, which focuses on newsrooms in Finland, UK and US. Data journalism or data-driven journalism has been defined simply as journalism based on large data sets (or big data) Rogers 2011; Bounegru et al. 2012). According to our ongoing research on data journalism work methods, we can claim this has been an oversimplification. In this paper we will argue that all the brief definitions of data journalism lack nuances, and the multiple layers that contemporary data journalism already consists of in newsrooms. 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.

Author Biographies

Turo I Uskali, Department of Communication/University of Jyväskylä

Turo Uskali (Ph.D., University of Jyväskylä, 2003) is Senior Research Scholar in the Department of Communication at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. He heads several research projects focusing on innovations in journalism. The newest one Work Practices in Data Journalism started in April 2013. Uskali has worked as a visiting researcher and an associate fellow at the University of Oxford, Saïd Business School, UK (2007-2008), and as a visiting scholar at the Innovation Journalism Program at Stanford University, California (2006-2007). Uskali has authored or co-authored five books about the evolution of global journalism and the changes in media industries. His research has been published in Journalism and Mass Communication Educator (2011), Innovation Journalism (2005-) and Media & Viestintä (Media & Communication) (2005-), and Central European Journal of Communication (2013-) He has contributed a chapter to Corporate Reputation and the News Media – Agenda-Setting within Business News Coverage in Developed, Emerging, and Frontier Markets (2011).

Heikki Kuutti, Department of Communication/University of Jyväskylä

Postdoctoral Researcher, PhD

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Published

2015-03-09

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