Abstract
This chapter reflects on the growing importance of data to journalism. It highlights the fact that data journalists are developing innovative forms of news storytelling which not only engage audiences in novel ways, but also offer greater transparency to the editorial production process. It argues, however, that data journalism finds itself caught in a long-standing tension in news industries between the dual demands on news to serve the public good (maintaining an informed citizenry and acting as a watchdog on power) and succeed as a for-profit informational commodity. The chapter suggests that, so far, data journalism aligns more comfortably with the public good objectives of news than with its commercial imperatives, which may be a factor limiting its wider practice in news organisations.
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Cawley, A. (2016). Is There a Press Release on That? The Challenges and Opportunities of Big Data for News Media. In: Bunnik, A., Cawley, A., Mulqueen, M., Zwitter, A. (eds) Big Data Challenges. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-94885-7_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-94885-7_5
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