Digitization and its Impact on Journalism

In the past, journalists were responsible for reporting the news. But today news stories disseminate as the incidents unfold, from multiple sources. Thus, gathering, filtering and visualizing events has a growing value. Huge amounts of data are available, but exploiting them is not an easy task. Data journalism can be defined as a journalism speciality in which numerical data are used in the production and distribution of information. This article investigates the necessary skills that journalists must have in order to cope with data journalism. More precisely, it defines data journalism, and discusses journalists' Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills, as well as the necessary skills for supporting data journalism. Special attention is given to Web 3.0 and open data that can play an important role in data journalism. A survey conducted among professional journalists in Greece concerning data journalism is also presented and discussed.

In recent years data journalism has drawn significant attention not only in academic literature but also in the media sector. Data Journalism is a new form of journalism that has gradually appeared over the last decade, driven by the availability of data in digital form. Currently a significant amount of data journalism projects are being produced all over the world. These projects vary considerably in terms of structure and visualization characteristics. As a result of the above it would be interesting to propose a taxonomy of data journalism projects that can help future data journalists to choose the appropriate type of projects that will be suitable for their needs. This classification could be based on certain characteristics of the data journalism projects. The proposed taxonomy will take into account various parameters that play an important role in data journalist projects and especially in the type and the role of the visualization.

2018

This report is the result of the first phase of the project “New skills by the next generation of journalists” funded by Erasmus+. The project is embedded in the action type “Strategic partnerships for higher education” and will run for three years until August 2020. Based on the results of our study and the work of other media scholars and professionals we believe, that knowledge of the fields of data journalism, collaborative journalism, innovative business models and journalism ethics will be essential for future journalists. Mastering any of these fields includes the need to observe trends critically, and decide what skills are important to secure journalistic standards and press freedom and what tools might be helpful for journalism to evolve further. Against this background, this report was set up to gain insight into the status quo of innovation in journalism and academic journalism education in four European countries with a focus on data journalism, collaborative journalism, innovative business models and ethical challenges of the digital public sphere. The project team consists of journalism and media scholars from the University of Pécs (Hungary), the Erich Brost Institute for International Journalism (Germany), the Instituto Universitario de Lisboa (Portugal) and the University of Bucharest (Romania). Interviews with 25 journalism educators and 21 leading journalists working in at least in one of our four fields from Romania, Hungary, Germany and Portugal were conducted between February and May 2018. Our benchmarking research has shown that journalism education as well as the progress of journalism regarding our four fields is quite different in the four countries, but there are also many similarities. For each of the four participating countries our research design included (1) an analysis of the curricula of six selected journalism programmes at public and private universities and universities of applied sciences, (2) in-depth interviews with representatives from the six chosen programmes, and (3) in-depth interviews with five to six journalists who are experienced at least in one of our four fields. The interviews were conducted between February and May 2018. In the coming phases of our project we will develop teaching materials for the above mentioned four fields. These courses will then be given at the participating universities and institutes as a pilot teaching activity. In the final phase of our project in 2020 an international cross-border investigative project based on data journalism techniques and involving students from all four participating institutions will be organised. In addition, a glossary of key terms and a teacher’s guide will be developed. All educational materials produced by the project will be made openly and freely accessible through open licenses via the project’s website http://newsreel.pte.hu/ in English.

Downloadable from the conference website (p. 22-23 in the Abstract Book)

The Assault on Journalism: Building knowledge to protect freedom of expression, 2017

This study discusses how and in what ways activist citizen journalists in Turkey develop safety tactics against the repressive strategies of a neoliberal authoritarian government. By drawing on the theories of alternative new media and citizen journalism, we conducted interviews with activist citizen journalists, proponents of citizen journalism initiatives, and representatives of two related organizations (TGS-Turkish Journalists’ Union and RSF-Reporters sans Frontières) to analyze their awareness and susceptibility concerning journalism safety. In short, we claim that neither our interviewees nor representatives of the involved organizations have high levels of awareness and sensitivity concerning safety. Still our interviewees are under the protection of a circle of safety thanks to networks of solidarity. We believe that to promote efforts to strengthen the relationship between media and democracy in the future, studies focusing on the safety of citizen journalists are crucial.

#ISOJ, The Official Research Journal of the International Symposium on Online Journalism, 2015

Digital technologies have changed the means by which media organizations produce the news. Using gatekeeping theory, current research has treated news organizations as relatively homogenous, as opposed to analyzing the differences that exist within and across newsrooms about how online news should be produced. This research uses gatekeeping theory to qualitatively examine the accounts of 21 online news personnel from 16 leading news organizations in the United States. The results reveal digital news divisions centered around two themes: resource constraints and news socialization practices. Both of these themes have components that are internal and external to news organizations.

In 1963, David Cole wrote in The Practice of Journalism that "the present period is the most crucial in the ever-changing history of newspapers and magazines. The problems seem more complex than previously, the dangers graver, and the demands made on every section within the industry more exacting" (Cole 1963, p. 15). Cole's observation illustrates that the perception of the print journalism industry has changed very little on a fundamental level over the last forty years – these observations could very well describe the digital environment journalists now work in. Keeping this in mind, one can ask how has digital technology affected the way print journalists produce their work in comparison to writing for the ‘traditional’ Press? Preliminary findings from an ethnographic study into the creative practices of the print journalist indicate that the use of digital technology has had both a positive and negative effect. This paper discusses how news practitioners believe that this technology – the computer and computer programs, the Internet, email, mobile phones, and digital cameras – has enhanced their production practices but also created new challenges. However, it is important to recognise that rather than simply focusing on technology there are many factors that dictate changes in work practices and the research has revealed that the elements of good journalism are still regarded as important when writing in a digital environment.

Digitization is one of the primary driving forces behind recent changes in journalism, including news values, professional ethics, work flows, working conditions, and newsroom management. The Mapping Digital Media study shows that digital media have not only changed journalism practices in developed countries but have also significantly shaped the way journalists work in emerging markets. Digital media bring opportunities, risks, and challenges to journalism. While digitization facilitates news gathering and dissemination, it does not necessarily foster better journalism. Plagiarism, lack of verification, and other unethical journalistic practices have increased alarmingly in many countries.