DATA JOURNALISM IN THE COVID-19 PERIOD: A DESCRIPTIONAL REVIEW OF CORONAVIRUS NEWS

Abstract

This research focuses on the events of data journalism during Covid-19. Journalism is mainly carried out by data analysis in this period. In the context of the contextuality/relationality concept, data- driven stories and factually compiled knowledge serve an extremely important enlightenment role for the reader. The main aim of the study is to show how critical information is revealed and presented within the framework of the understanding of journalism by analyzing big data, and to show the value that the understanding of data journalism contributes to journalism in this context. For this purpose, sample news about the Covid-19 period produced by the data journalism process from the websites of the New York Times and The Guardian newspapers was selected for the analysis. Descriptive analysis method was used in the study whose conceptual framework was established through data journalism, news production processes in data journalism and visual storytelling. Data journalism, which involves multidisciplinary cooperation, has been evaluated in terms of both news production processes and visual storytelling. As a result of the study, it was observed that significant knowledge was brought to light by creating substantive relationships between the data, a transparent and accountable journalism approach was performed, and complicated quantitative data was presented in a clear and interesting form with effective visualization factors in this era, which is critical for society. The value of data journalism has been pointed out in this context, making the news efficient, understandable, relevant and verifiable on the basis of news production processes, and creating a new direction in today's understanding of journalism.