Data Journalism (2017) Erasmus Mundus MA in Journalism, Media and Globalisation Business and Financial Specialism

1. Role of a journalist in
the age of open data
and rise of Fifth Estate

2. Introduction to Data Journalism, 2017
Estefanía Zárate Angarita
Ella Navarro
Michal Skýpala
Chandralekha Mukerji
Jocylin Hsiu Chi Fan Chiang

3. Agenda
1. Introduction
2. Research question
3. Background
a. The Fourth Estate
b. The Fifth Estate
c. The blurring lines
4. Analysis
a. Connecting the dots
b. Working together
c. Multiskilled newsrooms
5. Conclusions

4. Introduction
TRADITIONAL JOURNALISM IS BEING
THREATENED
IS IT THE END OF JOURNALISM AS WE
KNOW IT?
OPEN DATA -> CHALLENGE FOR JOURNALISTSFIFTH ESTATE -> RISE OF WIKILEAKS

5. How is the rise of open data with Fifth Estate
influencing the role of professional journalists?
Our research question:

6. Background
The Fourth Estate, the Fifth Estate and
the blurring lines between the two.

7. The Fourth Estate
“Three Estates in Parliament; but, in the Reporters' Gallery
yonder, there sat a Fourth Estate more important far than
they all” Carlyle.

8. FOURTH ESTATE
✘ Free press and media
✘ Independent from the government
✘ Essential for democratization
✘ Watchdog
✘ Agenda-setter
The traditional role of the profession of
Journalism

9. The Fifth Estate

10. FIFTH ESTATE
✘ Open data
✘ Individuals outside of the other Estates can have
political implications
✘ Independent bloggers contribute online
✘ Parallel medium of information
✘ Blog-sphere: stateless news organisation
✘ Doesn’t depend of government institutions

11. “Citizen journalists” or
‘actors’ that can make the
other three ‘estates’
accountable the same
way as journalists, thanks
to the

12. FIFTH ESTATE - EXAMPLES
9 year old Martha Payne
blog on school lunches in
Scotland
BP Oil Spill

13. The Fifth Estate appears
as a new independent
source that challenges
the Fourth Estate.

14. The risk:
LOW CREDIBILITY
“Amateurism can become a dangerous substitute for trained,
responsible behaviour. But in the right context, with appropriate
training, amateurs can contribute to the professions and to society as
paraprofessionals”
Roy Peter Clark

15. Still, the Fifth Estate and the Fourth
estate are voices that are tied
together, influence each other and
can collaborate.
Good example: Afghan War Diaries

16. The Conflict: blurring lines between the
Fourth and the Fifth
The boundaries of journalistic work and professional jurisdiction
become increasingly blurred amid the news industry’s ‘identity
complex’. (Lewis, 2012)

17. Journalism has a fluid identity :
Scholars argued that journalism is an unstable social
entity that varies through time and space.

18. Journalists want to maintain its epistemic authority and
legitimation:
They try to defend the boundaries of its professions when
it faces the challenges of the increasing digital participatory
cultures.

19. WikiLeaks vs. Journalists
- Pushes journalism to change
- Pushing journalism restate and defend the core
values of journalism
- Critique of the commercialisation of journalism

20. Truth to power
Accountability power of WikiLeaks comes into
question. Are there ulterior motives?
“Traditional journalists value truth, while the Fifth
Estate generally values truth as they see it.” (Kelly
McBride, Poynter Institute)
“Truth as you see it” is not truth at all.” (Tim Dwyer,
executive editor of The Day)

21. Analysis
We have observed three main influences
on Journalism by Fifth Estate

22. Connecting the dots
Journalists are pressured go over a scoop
for deeper context

23. Connecting the dots
● “There is a need, more than ever, for journalists as the truth-teller,
sense-maker, explainer" (Katharine Viner)
● After data dump, leaks need to be put in context
● Paint the bigger picture

24. Rise of explanatory reporting and analytical journalism

25. Connecting the dots
● Core values apply = proximity, locality and magnitude,
the nation/community building responsibility, the
fact-checking process.
● Digital opens possibility to share more and ‘leak’ more,
therefore data needs higher level of scrutiny and
fact-checking.
● Data can lie
● We can be that bridge”, (Rogers, 2011).

26. Working together
Moving from the frenzy to get the ‘exclusive scoop’ to
collaborating for painting a bigger picture, for the greater good

27. Collaborative journalism
The traditional media perceived as “too committed to...an
exclusive story...” (Dean, Taflaga).

28. Collaborative journalism
However, “the concept of public accountability should not be
confined by the borders and orthodoxies of traditional
journalism,”
--Charles Lewis, founder, the International Consortium of
Investigative Journalists.
The recent data-dumps have seen many solid examples
of collaborative journalism:
● The Afghan war diaries (2010)
● Panama Papers (2015)
● The Paradise Papers and
● Football Leaks (2016-17)
● ALSO: temporary collaborations: such as Hostwriter.org

29. Collaborative journalism
The Good News: It’s not one sided!
While collaborating on the war logs: “WikiLeaks stressed
that this release (...) should maximise media coverage and
reach as many readers as possible for those sources risking
their lives.”(Oliver, 2010).
So, it’s not just journalists, the Fifth Estate too is interested
in collaborations efforts.

30. Collaborative journalism
Charles Lewis sees it as the “only future for journalism”
(Guardian, 2015)...
Caveat:
Ian Katz, the deputy editor of the Guardian who had
collaborated with WikiLeaks on the Afghan war logs story,
points out to “the hazards of co-ordinating five
newspapers and an information insurgent”
Issues such as legal threats, mutual trust, co-ordinated
effort, need to be worked on...

31. Multiskilled newsroom
Diversity across the functions and skills is
changing the profession

32. Diverse newsroom
The composition of newsrooms are changing.
Apart from
journalistic skills,
you need:
● coding languages
● statistical
analysis
● data scraping
● web development
● UX design
● visualisation
● cartography

33. Diverse newsroom
“A good journalist should understand content beyond the
basic who, what, when, and where.”
--Nicole Smith Dahmen, Data Journalism: Inside the
global future (2015)
Not just limited to graphs and visuals… Gamification of
Investigative stories…
Examples:
● Stairway to Tax Heaven by ICIJ
● Al Jazeera’s Pirate Fishing

34. Security Concerns
The technical know-how is not limited to content.
Journalist are now expected to be more aware of the security
concerns.
Google warned reporters that a state actor is attempting to
hack their email.
Huge leaks and collaborative investigations, therefore,
demand journalists to be aware of cyber security issues and
adopt encryption practices.

35. Conclusions
Fifth Estate
… has accelerated the role of the
journalist, which has been
changing over the year.
A shift
… from investigative to more
analytical, context-driven
journalism.
Exclusive
scoop
… is no longer the main priority.
Collaborative
… journalism is becoming more
relevant> it doesn’t mean chaos
but cross-border, networking and
leaving the comfort zone.
More skills
… and better technical training
are big challenges for journalists.
Core values
… of journalism are intensified by
the openness and transparency
of information.

36. THANKS!
Any questions?