Data visualization and transparency in the news

Abstract

This chapter explores the role of data visualization in relation to transparency in the news, a field in which a decline in trust and a subsequent need to reassert credibility is an ongoing challenge. Being transparent about how the news is produced is seen as one way of generating trust, yet there has been very little empirical research into transparency practices in newsrooms. Our chapter fills this gap, focusing on transparency and data visualization. We argue that working with data visualization involves particular enactments of transparency, many of which are surprisingly not visual.

Towards a critical understanding of data visualisation in democracy: a deliberative systems approach

“…This body of research includes case studies from a variety of societal contexts, exploring both semiotic, receptive and political aspects of data visualisation. The first and third of the cases are reported in the anthology Data visualisation in society (Engebretsen & Kennedy, 2020). These two cases were not originally developed within the framework of deliberative systems.…”

“…Whereas data visualisations often present themselves as objective representations of particular conditions, they are nonetheless products of human choices. Data visualisations are the results of production process often hidden for the readers (Cairo, 2019;Kennedy et al, 2020). At each stage of the process, the producersoften a team representing competences within data handling, graphic design as well as storytelling techniques (Engebretsen et al, 2018) are faced with a set of choices, each representing certain critical issues: Where do we find the data?…”

“…Yet overall, data visualisation remains a vehicle for voicing the concerns and interests of the few and resourceful, rather than the many. And, as Kennedy et al (2020) point out, the 'look of objectivity' characterising many data visualisations, and the complexity of the production process may conceal the subjective choices made at the various stages, and, by this concealment, inhibit non-expert scrutiny and critique of the claims made through data visualisation.…”

Facts of (Financial) life: Political power and re-visualization strategies

“…As an informative tool, often associated with an “ aura of truthfulness ” (Kennedy et al, 2016: 722), and the political power of the numeric and scientific (Porter, 1996; Kovacic and Giampietro 2015), political visualizations possess both positive and negative potentials. A rise in the use of political visualizations can potentially improve the public sphere and create stronger, more informed publics (Nærland, 2020; Cairo 2016), as well as assist in further strengthening ideologies, persuading, affecting, or misinforming the public (Nærland, 2020; Amit-Danhi and Shifman, 2020; Kennedy et al, 2020).…”

Evaluación de la transparencia en el periodismo de datos de referencia

“…Los datos suscitan neutralidad (Porter, 1995;Tal & Wansink, 2016;Kennedy, Weber & Engebretsen, 2020), pero su manejo conlleva innumerables decisiones por parte del periodista. Ante este control de los puntos de vista, ofrecer la oportunidad de reutilizar las cifras y conocer la metodología del trabajo incrementaría la ARTÍCULOS DE INVESTIGACIÓN calidad de las historias y permitiría reforzar la función de perro guardián de los medios de comunicación (Philips, 2010;Alexander & Vetere, 2011;Paraise & Darigal, 2012;Howard, 2014;Coddington, 2015;Solop & Wonders, 2016;Felle, 2016;Hammond, 2017;Horky & Pelka, 2017;Anderson & Borges-Rey, 2019).…”