Exploring data journalism practices in Africa: data politics, media ecosystems and newsroom infrastructures

Abstract

Extant research on data journalism in Africa has focused on newsroom factors and the predilections of individual journalists as determinants of the uptake of data journalism on the continent. This article diverts from this literature by examining the slow uptake of data journalism in sub- Saharan Africa through the prisms of non-newsroom factors. Drawing on in-depth interviews with prominent investigative journalists sampled from several African countries, we argue that to understand the slow uptake of data journalism on the continent; there is a need to critique the role of data politics, which encompasses state, market and existing media ecosystems across the continent. Therefore, it is necessary to move beyond newsroom-centric factors that have dominated the contemporary understanding of data journalism practices. A broader, non-newsroom conceptualisation beyond individual journalistic predilections and newsroom resources provides productive clarity on data journalism’s slow uptake on the continent. These arguments are made through the conceptual prisms of materiality, performativity and reflexivity.

Data journalism and audience engagement: Introduction to the special issue

“…Scholars have also started to examine data journalism practices at the local level (such as Tong, 2021;Stalph et al, 2022;Arias-Robles and López, 2020) and the challenges data journalists face in different countries (such as Jamil, 2021;Lewis and Nashmi., 2019;Robles2023;Sandoval-Martín and La-Rosa, 2018). They have compared data journalism practices in countries on different stages of information society (such as Camaj et al, 2022;Chiumbu and Munoriyarwa, 2023) and reflected on the role data journalism plays in society and its role in facilitating the opening up of data (Pentzold et al, 2021;Tong, 2022a).…”

The Datafication of Newsrooms: A Study on Data Journalism Practices in a British Newspaper

“…The majority of award-winning data journalism contains dynamic and interactive graphics, which are built on and hosted by a variety of internal and external platforms, according to research conducted on the winners of the data journalism awards (Ojo and Heravi 2018). This relationship not only between newsrooms and other platforms is crucial for data journalism but also for data politics, media ecosystems, and newsroom infrastructure, which become critically important for conducting quality data journalism (Chiumbu and Munoriyarwa 2023). Extensive scholarly investigations have been conducted in the past decade, focusing on data journalism as a prominent emerging practice within the realm of news production.…”