Considering the interactions between developments in open data and data journalism, Data for Journalism: Between Transparency and Accountability offers an interdisciplinary account of this complex and uncertain relationship in a context of tightening the control over data and weighing transparency against privacy. As data has brought both promise and disruptive changes to societies, the relationship between transparency and accountability has become complicated, and data journalism is practised alongside the contradictory needs of opening up and protecting data. In addition to exploring the benefits of data for journalism, this book addresses the uncertain nature of data and the obstacles preventing data from being fluently accessed and properly used for data reporting. Because of these obstacles, it argues individual data journalists play a decisive role in using data for journalism and facilitating the circulation of data. Frictions in data access, newsrooms' resources and cultures and data journalists' skill and data literacy levels determine the degree to which journalism can benefit from data, and these factors potentially exacerbate digital inequalities between newsrooms in different countries and with different resources. As such, the author takes an international perspective, drawing on empirical research and cases from around the world, including countries such as the UK, the US, Germany, Sweden, Australia, India, China and Japan. Introducing a new dimension to the study of developments in journalism and the role of journalism in society, Data for Journalism will be of interest to academics and researchers in the fields of journalism and the sociology of (big and open) data.

This book is your guide to understanding what journalism is and could be in an age of digital technology and datafication. Journalism today is entwined with the digital. Stories can come from crowdsourcing and content farms. They can incorporate data visualisations and virtual reality. Journalists can find themselves working as self-employed digital entrepreneurs or for tech giants like Google and Facebook. This book explores the development of journalism in this era of digital tech, and big and open data. It explores the crucial new developments of online journalism, data journalism, computational journalism and entrepreneurial journalism, and what this means for our understanding of journalism as a profession, and as a part of society. Using a wealth of international case studies, Jingrong Tong explores contemporary issues such as: AI, Automated news, 'robot reporters', and algorithmic accountability. Digital business models, from venture capital to tech start-ups to crowd-funding. Audiences and dissemination in and age of platform capitalism Questions of censorship, democracy and state control. Digital challenges to journalistic autonomy and legitimacy. With clear explanations throughout, Journalism in the Data Age introduces you to a range of ideas, debates and key concepts. It is essential reading for all students of journalism. Dr Jingrong Tong is Senior Lecturer in Digital News Cultures at the University of Sheffield.

Complexities and dilemmas are evident in journalism in the digital and data age. Scarcity of audiences' attention jeopardises the survival of information media in the market, technological penetration increasingly renders journalism a complex information system, and the rise of partisan journalism accompanies the crisis of objective reporting. Analysing the evolving industry as it turns to the help of digital technologies such as algorithms and cloud computing to reach and engage local and global audiences, Journalism, Economic Uncertainty and Political Irregularity in the Digital and Data Era explores the challenges journalism faces in great depth and detail. Tong discusses the transformation of quality journalism that has become high-tech, interdisciplinary, saturated with human interest, and sometimes even fiercely partisan under the influence of multiple disruptions brought about by digital technology, economic uncertainty, and political irregularity. A timely and important contribution to the research of journalism, Journalism, Economic Uncertainty and Political Irregularity in the Digital and Data Era bridges media with the fields of sociology, politics, technology, and culture studies - central for academics, writers and researchers.

In the framework of democratic societies, investigative journalism is deemed as serving the public interest, helping maintain a healthy public sphere and helping to hold power into account. The ideals of a democratic society justify the idea and practice of investigative journalism. Alternately, modern China runs an authoritarian system of the one-party rule, so where does the idea of investigative journalism fit in? Why can investigative journalism appear in such an authoritarian society and with what characteristics?

"Investigative Journalism in China" examines the four aspects of Chinese investigative journalism (the Idea of investigative journalism and its comparison against Western contexts; the Development/Influence; Reporters and their work; and the Impacts on society), by using empirical data from Dr. Jingrong Tong's fieldwork at two newsrooms (the "Southern Metropolitan Daily" and the "Dahe Daily") in 2006, 73 in-depth-interviews conducted from 2004-2008, and the analysis of internal and public documents and media cases in order to accurately survey the field and put it in context.

This book is your guide to understanding what journalism is and could be in an age of digital technology and datafication. Journalism today is entwined with the digital. Stories can come from crowdsourcing and content farms. They can incorporate data visualisations and virtual reality. Journalists can find themselves working as self-employed digital entrepreneurs or for tech giants like Google and Facebook. This book explores the development of journalism in this era of digital tech, and big and open data. It explores the crucial new developments of online journalism, data journalism, computational journalism and entrepreneurial journalism, and what this means for our understanding of journalism as a profession, and as a part of society. Using a wealth of international case studies, Jingrong Tong explores contemporary issues such as: AI, Automated news, 'robot reporters', and algorithmic accountability. Digital business models, from venture capital to tech start-ups to crowd-funding. Audiences and dissemination in and age of platform capitalism Questions of censorship, democracy and state control. Digital challenges to journalistic autonomy and legitimacy. With clear explanations throughout, Journalism in the Data Age introduces you to a range of ideas, debates and key concepts. It is essential reading for all students of journalism. Dr Jingrong Tong is Senior Lecturer in Digital News Cultures at the University of Sheffield.

This book explores Twitter communication about the 2016 Brexit referendum in the UK in the run-up to the event. The mixed-method, computational analysis of over twelve million tweets reveals how Twitter worked in shaping political discourse and its potential for fuelling populism in the month leading to the referendum. Our findings show while polarised public opinion was explicitly expressed, populist sentiments were mainstreamed into the debate about the referendum and widely spread on Twitter. Populist politicians, supported by pro-Brexit users, tactically used Twitter to promulgate their populist ideas. In contrast, despite their active use of Twitter, the Remain camp appeared to have misunderstood the mechanisms of Twitter for shaping political discourse. Twitter communication, in this case, showed dangerous potential for reflecting and reinforcing existing social tensions and divisions, being influenced or even manipulated by individuals and interest groups to serve their own interests. It is important to be well aware of this capacity of Twitter for the wellbeing of democracy, especially in the politically turbulent times since 2016 when the UK voted to leave the EU.

This edited volume discusses the theoretical, practical and methodological issues surrounding changes in journalism in the digital era. The chapters explore how technological innovations have transformed journalism and how an international comparative perspective can contribute to our understanding of the topic. Journalism is examined within Anglo-American and European contexts as well as in Asia and Africa, and comparative approaches and methods for journalism studies in the digital age are evaluated. In so doing, the book offers a thorough investigation of changes in journalistic norms, practices and genres in addition to providing an international and comparative perspective for understanding these changes and what they mean to journalism. Written by both leading scholars and media practitioners in the field, the articles in this collection are based on theoretical frameworks and empirical data, drawn from content analysis of newspaper and online coverage, in-depth interviews with news practitioners, observation on the websites of news organisations and analysis of journalists on Twitter. The result is a cohesive compilation that offers the reader an up-to-date and comprehensive understanding of digital developments in journalism and comparative journalism studies.

The level of politicisation of the environment has been low in the UK. Economic concerns outweigh environmental ones in political debates, public policies and political agendas. Can the rise of social media communication change this situation? Tweeting the Environment #Brexit argues that, although limited by the dynamics of the British context, the technological affordances of Twitter enabled social actors such as the Green Party, ENGOs, and their associates to advance their political and green claims in order to mobilise voters before the 2016 EU referendum and to express their concerns in order to change environmental politics in the aftermath. The interdisciplinary research employed a combination of big data applications such as ElasticSearch and Kibana and desktop applications such as Gephi and SPSS in analysing large-scale social data. Adopting an inductive and data-driven approach, this book shows the importance of mixed methods and the necessity of narrowing down "big" to "small" data in large-scale social media research.

In the framework of democratic societies, investigative journalism is deemed as serving the public interest, helping maintain a healthy public sphere and helping to hold power into account. The ideals of a democratic society justify the idea and practice of investigative journalism. Alternately, modern China runs an authoritarian system of the one-party rule, so where does the idea of investigative journalism fit in? Why can investigative journalism appear in such an authoritarian society and with what characteristics? Investigative Journalism in China examines the four aspects of Chinese investigative journalism (the Idea of investigative journalism and its comparison against Western contexts; the Development/Influence; Reporters and their work; and the Impacts on society), by using empirical data from Dr. Jingrong Tong's fieldwork at two newsrooms (the Southern Metropolitan Daily and the Dahe Daily) in 2006, 73 in-depth-interviews conducted from 2004-2008, and the analysis of internal and public documents and media cases in order to accurately survey the field and put it in context.