Abstract
As the increasing demand for data journalism during and following the COVID-19 pandemic continues, contributors to Data Journalism and the COVID-19 Disruption aim to answer questions concerning the future of data journalism, the relationship of data journalism to the public and the state, and the changes in data journalism, by using case studies from a myriad of countries. In Part 1, ‘Data Journalism Practices: Achievements, Changes and Challenges’, researchers discuss in depth the shifting phases of the pandemic and the practice and the ethical regulation in the United Kingdom. Part 2, ‘Data Journalism and the Newsroom’, examines data journalism in the setting of the newsroom and the potential outcomes and consequences the newsroom has on the practice using case studies of Sky News and Spanish newspapers. Within these chapters, questions regarding technological innovations and the future of the relationship between reporting and data journalism arise. This section also discusses ‘longitudinal reporting’ and the integration of data journalism as a permanent factor within the newsroom (chapter 8). Part 3, ‘Data Journalism and Its Audiences’, discusses the shifting changes of the audience and data journalism including the limitations of engaging audiences in data visualisations (chapter 9), commercial needs, paternalistic standpoints and reduction of audience engagement to audience data on social media resulting in a lack of space for collaboration between journalists and the audience (chapter 10), and the response to a COVID-19 story in Brazilian newspaper ‘Folha de S. Paulo’. The final Part 4, ‘Data Journalism, Data, and External Entities’ explores Arab countries and the challenges of investigative journalism during the pandemic (chapter 12), Singaporean state’s influence on formulating news narratives (chapter 13), and the application of media coverage by epidemiologists and how public health professionals used the media to inform their decisions regarding the pandemic (chapter 14).