Hacking Gender and Technology in Journalism by Sara De Vuyst

Author:Sara De Vuyst [Vuyst, Sara De]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Media Studies
ISBN: 9780429557118
Google: BWXMDwAAQBAJ
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 48889229
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2020-01-27T02:26:35+00:00

An inclusive field?

Interviewed data journalists had established their own professional networks for socialising and exchanging information. These networks go beyond boundaries between geographic regions, newsrooms as well as journalism and the technology field. Connections are made at hackathons, workshops and conferences and through online platforms. The mailing list of the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR) was mentioned as an example of this. There are plenty of blogs, discussion groups and mailing lists that are used to ask questions about data analysis, solve programming problems and share information about job vacancies and training possibilities. These networks were considered more accessible to all journalists, independent of gender, age and seniority than networks in traditional journalism. Access can be gained by a few mouse clicks, which make the threshold to enter the conversation rather low, whereas traditional journalism networks are less transparent and often segregated based on social markers. Participation in these networks allowed data journalists to increase both their digital and social capital.

In line with this, interviewees emphasised that the logic of data journalism is based more on cooperation and teamwork than traditional journalism. First, several data journalists were involved in extensive cross-border projects, such as The Migrant Files, the FarmSubsidy project, LuxLeaks and Swiss Leaks, in which journalists from different countries joined forces to analyse huge databases to expose irregularities and injustices. Second, the majority of the interviewed data journalists who work in news organisations were part of cross-disciplinary teams in which they worked together with technologists. Third, data journalist participants often shared their methods and codes online with colleagues from competing newsrooms, a practice that was linked to the open-source movement. This transparency about work methods was believed to make data journalism more inclusive.

Furthermore, several interviewees had the impression that because data journalism focuses on exposing wrongdoings in society, practitioners are more conscious about forms of discrimination and injustice in their own community. A 27-year-old female data journalist illustrated this point by mentioning a debate in the NICAR mailing list in which many members openly criticised a comment because it was considered sexist, and they demanded a code of conduct to guarantee diversity in the community and prevent harassment. This was coupled with a belief in the potential of data journalism projects to address and challenge discrimination in society and shed light on differences between communities in terms of privilege, status and opportunities. Nevertheless, several interviewees backed this up by an awareness that data can lie and biases can sneak into and distort analysis and visualisations.

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