The launch of the open data policy in countries like the United States and the United Kingdom in 2009 gave rise to a new form of journalism. Data journalism combines open data, investigative research and multimedia to deliver a good story “through numbers.” A new award will recognise outstanding work in the field.
On January 19, the Global Editors Network (GEN), based in Maastricht, The Netherlands, announced the launch of the annual Data Journalism Awards (DJA). The first international competition of its kind is supported by Google and is a collaboration project with the European Journalism Centre. Online submissions are open worldwide until April 10, 2012, in three categories: Data-driven investigative journalism; Data visualisation & storytelling; and Data-driven applications (mobile or Web). With two prizes awarded per category, the awards will recognise outstanding work submitted by media companies, non-profit organisations, freelancers and individuals.
What is data journalism?
Data journalism, the relatively new but quickly growing field of journalism, is a form of online journalism that combines the different fields of investigative research, statistics, design and programming, and data analyzing. It is basically a combination of journalism and multimedia, a main component of which is to visually transform data into images to create a story. In the words of Charles Arthur, technology editor for the Guardian.co.uk, a good story is “[one] that will be best told through numbers.”
A surge in the new field was felt with the launch of the open data policy in the United States and the United Kingdom in 2009. Open source tools make access to this data quick and easy. The availability of open data gives journalists a wealth of material to work with to bring the collated data to the public in an interactive form.
How is data journalism used?
At the heart of data journalism lies creating a good story, but another goal is to provide services for the public. Leading online newspapers embracing data journalism include The Guardian, the L.A. Times, and the New York Times.
A good example of data journalism in operation is the disclosure of Afghanistan war logs from Wikileaks. Taking data delivered to them in a mammoth Excel file, journalists at the Guardian began sifting through it, breaking it down, purifying and filtering it. The analysis of these war logs produced a breakdown of information, which included improvised explosive device (IED) attacks, regions where the attacks took place and the casualties recorded in the database. A developer helped map the coordinates and then a graphic designer made a visual out of the stats.
A data journalism project, Mapping L.A., initiated by the L.A. Times in 2009, has changed the Californian metropolis’ landscape. The city of Los Angeles called upon its citizens to help define the boundaries of the neighbourhoods. But not only did readers contribute their agreement or disagreement with the existing boundaries as suggested by the city (prompting about 100 boundary changes and showing neighbourhood subdivisions), they wrote in with stories about their own neighborhoods, giving character and personality to each of these areas, which had previously only been zones on a map.
Another example is Dollars for Docs, a database compiled by ProPublica, an independent, non-profit, Pulitzer-Prize-winning newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. The project database, subtitled “How Industry Money Reaches Physicians,” is the result of ongoing ProPublica investigations into the financial ties between the medical community and the drug device industry. Using the database, which provides data on drug companies’ websites, citizens can now search whether medication has been prescribed for purely medicinal purposes by practices and doctors. In effect, the database allows patients to look up their doctors.
Standing out for the GEN jury
An international jury of nine industry journalists including the New York Times, Zeit Online, Les Echos, will vet the Data Journalism Award entries. President of the jury, Paul Steiger, founder of ProPublica, had this to say about the award: “Journalists and media organisations increasingly use numerical data and databases to gather, organise and produce relevant information. The Data Journalism Awards champions the evolution of this field by rewarding editorial excellence and highlighting best practices in data journalism.”
Peter Barron, Director of External Relations said: “At Google, we’re keen to help support and stimulate innovation in digital journalism. We see exciting possibilities of leveraging data to produce award-winning journalism.”
Prize money and announcement date
The contest welcomes national/international and local/regional projects, which will be judged separately. Entries to the competition must have been published or aired between April 11, 2011, and April 10, 2012. The prize money for the Data Journalism Award is valued at about EUR 45,000 (USD 57,000).
The winners will be announced in Paris at the annual News World Summit (NEWS!) hosted by the Global Editors Network in Paris, France, on May 31.
MyHue McGowran - A published print and online journalist, Mý Huê is currently a self-employed translator, copywriter, editor. She lives in Vienna, ...
Join the Conversation