Paradigm reinforcing: The assimilation of data journalism in the United Kingdom | Intellect Skip to content
1981
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies
  4. Volume 11, Issue 3
  5. Article
Volume 11, Issue 3
  • ISSN: 2001-0818
  • E-ISSN:

Abstract

A journalistic paradigm defines what journalism is, and what journalists should do, in relation to reporting news. Drawing from desk research and in-depth interviews with eighteen data journalists and experts in the United Kingdom, this article discusses the recent development and practices of data journalism in the United Kingdom and their implications for the journalistic paradigm, which involves the substantial use of interviewing. Embracing the opportunities provided by the datafication of society and the British government's open data initiative, UK news organizations have institutionalized and incorporated data journalism into their organizational structure. However, difficulties in practice have emerged, resulting from new, mostly ethically grounded issues surrounding data. Traditional journalistic practices, in particular interviewing and cross-checking, provide a useful, practical guide to solving related problems. The institutionalization of data journalism, as well as traditional journalistic methods and skills coming as a solution, assimilate data journalism into conventional journalistic practices, reinforcing – rather than undermining – the journalistic paradigm.

Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • Research Centre for Global Lives at Brunel University London
© 2022 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/ajms_00043_1
2022-10-01
2024-05-03
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Aitamurto, T., and Lewis, S. C.. ( 2012;), ‘ Open innovation in digital journalism: Examining the impact of open APIs at four news organizations. ’, New Media & Society, 15:2, pp. 314–31.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Aitamurto, T.,, Sirkkunen, E., and Lehtonen, P.. ( 2011), Trends in Data Journalism, Espoo:: VTT;.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Alves, R. C.. ( 2001;), ‘ The future of online journalism: Mediamorphosis or mediacide?. ’, Info-The Journal of Policy, Regulation and Strategy for Telecommunications, 3:1, pp. 63–72.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Anon. ( 2017;), ‘ BBC and Guardian sued over Paradise Papers leaks. ’, BBC , 18 December, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42403700. Accessed 29 March 2019.
  5. Appelgrena, E., and Nygren, G.. ( 2014;), ‘ Data journalism in Sweden: Introducing new methods and genres of journalism into “old” organizations. ’, Digital Journalism, 2:3, pp. 394–405.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Ashuri, T.. ( 2016;), ‘ When online news was new: Online technology use and constitution of structures in journalism. ’, Journalism Studies, 17:3, pp. 301–18.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Barr, C.. ( 2017;), ‘ Child knife deaths in England and Wales set for nine-year peak. ’, The Guardian , 28 November, https://www.theguardian.com/membership/2017/nov/28/child-knife-deaths-in-england-and-wales-set-for-nine-year-peak. Accessed 29 March 2019.
  8. Berkowitz, D.. ( 2000;), ‘ Doing double duty paradigm repair and the Princess Diana what-a-story. ’, Journalism, 1:2, pp. 125–43.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Birks, J.. ( 2019), Fact-Checking Journalism and Political Argumentation: A British Perspective, London:: Palgrave Macmillan;.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Bishop, R.. ( 1999;), ‘ From behind the walls: Boundary work by news organizations in their coverage of Princess Diana’s death. ’, Journal of Communication Inquiry, 23:90, pp. 90–112.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Borges-Rey, E.. ( 2016;), ‘ Unravelling data journalism. ’, Journalism Practice, 10:7, pp. 833–43.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Carlson, M.. ( 2011;), ‘ “Where once stood titans”: Second-order paradigm repair and the vanishing US newspaper. ’, Journalism, 13:3, pp. 267–83.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Carlson, M., and Berkowitz, D.. ( 2014;), ‘ “The emperor lost his clothes”: Rupert Murdoch, News of the World and journalistic boundary work in the UK and USA. ’, Journalism, 15:4, pp. 389–406.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Cave, M.. ( 1996;), ‘ Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom. ’, The Journal of Media Economics, 9:1, pp. 17–30.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Cheruiyot, D.,, Baack, S., and Ferrer-Conill, R.. ( 2019;), ‘ Data journalism beyond legacy media: The case of African and European civic technology organizations. ’, Digital Journalism, 7:9, pp. 1215–29.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Coddington, M.. ( 2012;), ‘ Defending a paradigm by patrolling a boundary: Two global newspapers’ approach to WikiLeaks. ’, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 89:3, pp. 377–96.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Coddington, M.. ( 2015;), ‘ Clarifying journalism’s quantitative turn. ’, Digital Journalism, 3:3, pp. 331–48.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Colquhoun, A.. ( 2010), The Cost of Freedom of Information, London:: Constitution Unit, University College London;.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Datablog ( 2012;), ‘ UK open government data: The results of the official audit. ’, The Guardian , https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/apr/18/uk-open-government-data-national-audit-office. Accessed 19 April 2019.
  20. Fink, K., and Anderson, C. W.. ( 2015;), ‘ Data journalism in the United States. ’, Journalism Studies, 16:4, pp. 467–81.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Fletcher, M.. ( 2019;), ‘ What ever happened to open data?. ’, HEPI , 19 March, https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2019/03/19/what-ever-happened-to-open-data/. Accessed 29 November 2019.
  22. Flyn, C., and Harper, C. Q.. ( 2012;), ‘ What price freedom (of information)?. ’, The Telegraph , 22 March, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9149322/What-price-freedom-of-information.html. Accessed 20 May 2019.
  23. Freedman, D. D.. ( 2016), A Future for Public Service Television: Content and Platforms in a Digital World, London:: Goldsmiths College, University of London;.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Frontier Economics ( 2006), Independent Review of the Impact of the Freedom of Information Act, London:: Frontier Economics;.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Gouk, A.. ( 2017;), ‘ Racial inequality is still a massive problem in Greater Manchester – and these are the facts that prove it. ’, Manchester Evening News , 12 March, https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/racial-inequality-manchester-hard-facts-12730531. Accessed 16 June 2019.
  26. Gray, J.,, Chambers, L., and Bounegru, L.. ( 2012), Data Journalism Handbook, CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, Expanded Academic ASAP, 5 October 2015 , Beijing, Cambridge, Farnham, Koln, Sebastopol and Tokyo:: O’Reilly Media;.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Guardian Staff ( 2018;), ‘ Appleby settles Paradise Papers litigation against Guardian and BBC. ’, The Guardian , 4 May, https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/may/04/appleby-settles-paradise-papers-litigation-against-guardian-and-bbc. Accessed 29 July 2019.
  28. Hermida, A.. ( 2013;), ‘ #JOURNALISM: Reconfiguring journalism research about Twitter, one tweet at a time. ’, Digital Journalism, 1:3, pp. 295–313.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Hermida, A., and Young, M. L.. ( 2019), Data Journalism and the Regeneration of News, London and New York:: Routledge;.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Hindman, E. B.. ( 2005;), ‘ Jayson Blair, the New York Times, and paradigm repair. ’, Journal of Communication, 55:2, pp. 225–41.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Høyer, S., and Nonseid, J.. ( 2005;), ‘ The half-hearted modernization of Norwegian journalism 1908–1940. ’, in S. Høyer, and H. Pöttker. (eds), Diffusion of the News Paradigm 1850–2000, Sweden:: Nordicom;, pp. 123–38.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Høyer, S., and Pöttker, H.. ( 2005), Diffusion of the News Paradigm 1850–2000, Gothenburg:: Nordicom;.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Information Commissioner’s Office ( 2014), Data Protection and Journalism: A Guide for the Media, London:: ICS;.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Karlsson, M.,, Clerwall, C., and Örnebring, H.. ( 2015;), ‘ Hyperlinking practices in Swedish online news 2007–2013: The rise, fall, and stagnation of hyperlinking as a journalistic tool. ’, Information, Communication & Society, 18:7, pp. 847–63.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. King, A.. ( 1998;), ‘ Thatcherism and the emergence of Sky Television. ’, Media, Culture & Society, 20:3, pp. 277–93.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Knight, M.. ( 2015;), ‘ Data journalism in the UK: A preliminary analysis of form and content. ’, Journal of Media Practice, 16:1, pp. 55–72.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Kuhn, T. S.. ( 1996), The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chicago, IL and London:: The University of Chicago Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Lewis, P.,, Barr, C.,, Clarke, S.,, Voce, A.,, Levett, C., and Gutiérrez, P.. ( 2019;), ‘ Revealed: The rise and rise of populist rhetoric. ’, The Guardian , 6 March, https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2019/mar/06/revealed-the-rise-and-rise-of-populist-rhetoric. Accessed 23 June 2019.
  39. Lewis, S. C.. ( 2012;), ‘ The tension between professional control and open participation: Journalism and its boundaries. ’, Information, Communication & Society, 15:6, pp. 836–66.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Luengo, M.. ( 2016;), ‘ When codes collide: Journalists push back against digital desecration. ’, in J. C. Alexander,, E. B. Breese, and M. Luengo. (eds), The Crisis of Journalism Reconsidered: Democratic Culture, Professional Codes, Digital Future, Cambridge:: Cambridge University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Maeyer, J. D.,, Libert, M.,, Domingo, D.,, Heinderyckx, F., and Cam, F. L.. ( 2015;), ‘ Waiting for data journalism: A qualitative assessment of the anecdotal take-up of data journalism in French-speaking Belgium. ’, Digital Journalism, 3:3, pp. 432–46.
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Mayer-Schönberger, V., and Cukier, K.. ( 2013), Big Data: A Revolution that Will Transform How We Live, Work and Think, London:: Murray;.
     [Google Scholar]
  43. McClenaghan, M., and Boutaud, C.. ( 2018;), ‘ Dying homeless: Counting the deaths of homeless people across the UK. ’, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 23 April, https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2018-04-23/dying-homeless. Accessed 28 November 2018.
     [Google Scholar]
  44. Mcnair, B.. ( 2017a;), ‘ After objectivity? Schudson’s sociology of journalism in the era of post-factuality. ’, Journalism Studies, 18:10, pp. 1318–33.
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Mcnair, B.. ( 2017b), Fake News: Falsehood, Fabrication and Fantasy in Journalism, London:: Routledge;.
     [Google Scholar]
  46. Mena-Aleman, D.. ( 2006;), ‘ Can the BBC compete to deliver “more than just what consumers want”. ’, Politics & Policy, 34:1, pp. 196–215.
     [Google Scholar]
  47. Perreault, G. P., and Vos, T. P.. ( 2018;), ‘ The Gamer Gate controversy and journalistic paradigm maintenance. ’, Journalism, 19:4, pp. 553–69.
     [Google Scholar]
  48. Ponsford, D.. ( 2017;), ‘ Telegraph to recruit 39 more journalists in 2018 as it plans to reach 10 million registered readers. ’, PressGazette , 15 December, https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/telegraph-to-recruit-39-more-journalists-in-2018-as-it-plans-to-reach-10m-registered-readers/. Accessed 23 May 2019.
  49. Radchenko, I., and Sakoyan, A.. ( 2014;), ‘ The view on open data and data journalism: Cases, educational resources and current trends. ’, International Conference on Analysis of Images, Social Networks and Texts, Cham:: Springer;, pp. 47–54.
     [Google Scholar]
  50. Robinson, S.. ( 2009;), ‘ The cyber-newsroom: A case study of the journalistic paradigm in a news narrative’s journey from a newspaper to cyberspace. ’, Mass Communication and Society, 12:4, pp. 403–22.
     [Google Scholar]
  51. Ruggiero, T. E.. ( 2004;), ‘ Paradigm repair and changing journalistic perceptions of the internet as an objective news source. ’, Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 10:4, pp. 92–106.
     [Google Scholar]
  52. Sarrimo, C.. ( 2016;), ‘ The press crisis and its impact on Swedish arts journalism: Autonomy loss, a shifting paradigm and a “journalistification” of the profession. ’, Journalism, 18:6, pp. 664–79.
     [Google Scholar]
  53. Schmidt, T. R., and Lawrence, R. G.. ( 2020;), ‘ Engaged journalism and news work: A sociotechnical analysis of organizational dynamics and professional challenges. ’, Journalism Practice, 14:5, pp. 518–36.
     [Google Scholar]
  54. Schudson, M.. ( 2013;), ‘ Would journalism please hold still. ’, in C. Peters, and M. J. Broersma. (eds), Rethinking Journalism: Trust and Participation in a Transformed News Landscape, London and New York:: Routledge;, pp. 191–99.
     [Google Scholar]
  55. Shils, E.. ( 1996), The Torment of Secrecy, Chicago, IL:: Elephant Paperbacks;.
     [Google Scholar]
  56. Southern, L.. ( 2019;), ‘ Inside Bloomberg’s 30-person international data journalism team. ’, https://digiday.com/media/inside-bloombergs-30-person-international-data-journalism-team/. Accessed 19 March 2020.
  57. Splichal, S., and Dahlgren, P.. ( 2016;), ‘ Journalism between de-professionalization and democratization. ’, European Journal of Communication, 31:1, pp. 5–18.
     [Google Scholar]
  58. Spyridou, L.-P., and Veglis, A.. ( 2016;), ‘ Convergence and the changing labor of journalism: Towards the “super journalist” paradigm. ’, in A. Lugmayr, and C. D. Zotto. (eds), Media Convergence Handbook, Vol 1: Journalism, Broadcasting, and Social Media Aspects of Convergence, Berlin and Heidelberg:: Springer-Verlag;, pp. 99–116.
     [Google Scholar]
  59. Steemers, J.. ( 2003;), ‘ Public service broadcasting is not dead yet. ’, in G. F. Lowe, and T. Hujanen. (eds), Broadcasting & Convergence: New Articulations of the Public Service Remit, Gothenburg:: Nordicom;, pp. 123–36.
     [Google Scholar]
  60. Thom, C.. ( 2017;), ‘ Journalistic exemption from the Data Protection Act under threat from EU law change. ’, PressGazette , 5 May, https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/journalistic-exemption-from-the-data-protection-act-under-threat-from-eu-law-change/. Accessed 16 December 2020.
  61. Thomas, D.. ( 2014;), ‘ Telegraph restructures newsroom. ’, Financial Times , 18 June, https://www.ft.com/content/76ef2484-f6fb-11e3-8ed6-00144feabdc0. Accessed 30 April 2019.
  62. Thompson, B.. ( 2017;), ‘ UK media warn data rules used to stifle journalism. ’, Financial Times, 17 October, https://www.ft.com/content/d3d1e6a4-9d34-11e7-9a86-4d5a475ba4c5. Accessed 30 April 2019.
     [Google Scholar]
  63. Tong, J.. ( 2015;), ‘ Chinese journalists’ views of UGC producers and journalism: A case study of the boundary work of journalism. ’, Asian Journal of Communication, 25:6, pp. 600–16.
     [Google Scholar]
  64. Tong, J.. ( 2017;), ‘ Technology and journalism: “Dissolving” social media content into disaster reporting on three Chinese disasters. ’, International Communication Gazette, 79:4, pp. 400–18.
     [Google Scholar]
  65. Tong, J.. ( 2018;), ‘ Journalistic legitimacy revisited: Collapse or revival in the digital age?. ’, Digital Journalism, 6:2, pp. 256–73.
     [Google Scholar]
  66. Tong, J., and Zuo, L.. ( 2019;), ‘ The inapplicability of objectivity: Understanding the work of data journalism. ’, Journalism Practice, https://www.doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2019.1698974. Accessed 17 October 2022.
     [Google Scholar]
  67. Vos, T. P., and Moore, J.. ( 2020;), ‘ Building the journalistic paradigm: Beyond paradigm repair. ’, Journalism, 21:1, pp. 17–33.
     [Google Scholar]
  68. Wright, S., and Doyle, K.. ( 2018;), ‘ The evolution of data journalism: A case study of Australia. ’, Journalism Studies, 20:13, pp. 1811–27.
     [Google Scholar]
  69. Tong, Jingrong. ( 2022;), ‘ Paradigm reinforcing: The assimilation of data journalism in the United Kingdom. ’, Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies, 11:3, pp. 267–86, https://doi.org/10.1386/ajms_00043_1
     [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1386/ajms_00043_1
Loading
  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): assimilation; data ethics; data journalism; journalism paradigm; paradigm reinforcing; the United Kingdom

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error