Data journalism uptake in South Africa’s mainstream quotidian business news reporting practices

Abstract

Drawing from the sociology of news production theory, this study examines the uptake of data-driven practices in business news reporting. It examines the extent to which journalists have adopted data journalism in business news and how this has altered their news reporting practices. It is based on a textual analysis of business news stories from two selected prominent business newspapers – Business Day and The Financial Mail and qualitative interviews with business news reporters. The study finds that there is a (gradually) increasing uptake of data-driven business news reporting practices, tempered by journalists’ concerns regarding their own individual professional capabilities. Furthermore, the practice has increasingly created a new narrative of corporate accountability in the press and inculcated collaboration in newsrooms. It argues that data-driven business news practices have upended the ‘rhythimised’ and ‘routinised’ news production processes by, among other aspects, empowering non-elite news sources, fostering newsroom collaborations and agentive the newsrooms. However, there is need for a recalibration of journalism education if data-driven reporting practices are to be more sustainable.