The virus ups data journalism’s game
“COVID-19 has surfaced the challenges of data journalism, above all its dependence on institutional data and a lack of time, resources, expertise, or ability to scrutinize the underlying assumptions in a data set.”
Data journalism played a major role during the first wave of the global coronavirus pandemic, gaining in significance and status with its promise of evidence-driven reporting on the spread of COVID-19. Figures and charts showing daily infection rates, hospitalizations, and deaths became commonplace in reporting on COVID-19, and in discussions among citizens at home or on social media.
The numbers from public authorities and data journalism teams presented a stark picture of the devastating impact of the virus across the world. But they also risked leaving audiences with a misleading picture of how their city, region, or country was faring in the struggle against the virus.