by Jingrong Tong (Author)
Considering the interactions between developments in open data and data journalism, Data for Journalism: Between Transparency and Accountability offers
an interdisciplinary account 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 societies, 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 decisive 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 potentially 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 journalism 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.
