Data Journalism: The Inevitable Trend

According to the 2024 press and media trends report by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (UK), there are 3 main trends affecting press and media: Many new types of devices are born; Digital platforms and social networks specializing in audio and video creation are developing explosively; The wave of artificial intelligence (AI).

All three of these trends involve data journalism - a type of journalism that is increasingly asserting its position and role through the digital media environment.

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Data journalism is increasingly asserting its position and role.

Data journalism is a new form of journalism that combines the information mining capabilities of journalists with the analytical capabilities of statisticians and the graphical capabilities of modelers.

Deploying data journalism is an inevitable trend today when the way traditional press and media works are presented cannot attract public attention. The press must change the way it is presented so that the public can access information as quickly as possible. Data, figures, and evidence must be visualized through charts, infographics, etc., creating eye-catching, rich information in a press product.

As the “audience first” model is widely applied, the public’s information reception activities are gradually “migrating” to digital platforms, and information has been reaching the public without distinguishing the source of the information. To connect readers and the public, press and media agencies need to have their own characteristics, their own identity with their own strengths so as not to be mixed with other information streams. Data journalism can participate in solving this problem.

Technologies such as AI, cloud computing, big data, internet of things (IoT), blockchain, metaverse... are considered "nutrients" for data journalism to develop.

In the context of AI explosion, data journalism plays an increasingly important role in news agencies. With the support of AI, news agencies can exploit unlimited open data sources on the Internet, thereby having more data to build quality stories.

However, the data that exists on the Internet that scientists collect to train AI software includes both correct and incorrect data. It should be noted that AI software can also be used and trained on data that intentionally creates false and misleading information. If abused to produce journalistic content, it can lead to information distortion. Therefore, censoring content created by AI software applications is a major challenge in journalism and communication activities.

In practice, under the impact of the digital media environment, many Vietnamese press agencies have effectively deployed data journalism.

It can be said that we have integrated very quickly and gradually approached and are on par with press agencies in the region and the world in terms of press and communication activities in the AI ​​era. Some "bright spots" in data journalism include Nhan Dan Newspaper, Vietnamplus... However, in general, the depth of data journalism products in Vietnam is still at a certain threshold.

Necessary and sufficient conditions

A journalistic product is only considered data journalism if the data plays a leading role in clarifying a certain issue. The public requires reporters and journalists to be able to analyze and evaluate data, not simply present data in a dry, empty way, making the public unable to fully understand and have to analyze and evaluate for themselves.

The process of applying data science to journalism and creating data journalism products of press agencies includes the following steps: Coming up with ideas; Identifying, identifying data and data rendering sources; Selecting data from open data sources on cyberspace and existing data sources; Enriching data based on technology platforms; Analyzing, evaluating, and building content sets; Visualizing to create data journalism application articles.

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News organizations will create a lot of engaging content for the public thanks to AI.

Based on AI, news agencies will create a lot of content that attracts the public. News agencies have a lot of "gold mines" of data storage. If they do a good job of linking and sharing data, they can create many better and more effective news stories.

I think that Vietnamese press should build a press ecosystem, where press agencies can share data, work together to create a shared data warehouse to reduce concerns about the negative impacts of AI.

Management agencies such as the Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Information and Communications, and specialized associations such as the Vietnam Journalists Association must provide guidance and direction, build a shared platform for press agencies, create a "common playground", and when necessary, be able to share data with each other, thereby maximizing the potential of data journalism.

On the part of press agencies, it is necessary to develop a plan to transform the operating model on the basis of building a digital newsroom, developing a variety of digital press products on different platforms to increase interaction with readers, towards sustainable development activities in the digital environment.

At the same time, press agencies need to evaluate, process data, forecast, and monitor information quality to assess their agency's digital maturity level and apply technology in a unified, safe, and sustainable manner.

Journalism and media training institutions must also change their training programs to suit new requirements, based on technology platforms. It is necessary to expand, update and develop digital journalism training programs to prepare resources for future digital newsrooms. On the other hand, it is also necessary to develop and implement training and retraining programs for leaders, reporters, editors, etc. of newsrooms on basic and necessary skills in building, deploying, implementing and operating digital newsrooms, prioritizing the development of data journalism.

Data journalism is playing an increasingly important role in news organizations. Accordingly, news organizations around the world can apply AI and data journalism to manage newsrooms, create press works and diversify distribution channels.

Through analyzing raw data collected by supporting tools/software, journalists and reporters with their acumen and professional skills can find out the unusual or outstanding points of an event/phenomenon to plan and deploy high-quality articles to meet the needs of the public. With diverse technology applications, data journalism articles will be formed much faster and easier than when doing journalism in the traditional way before.

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Tran Quang Dieu (Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics)