Data journalism and transparency in nonprofit newsrooms: A comparative study of Civio and propublica

Abstract

The rise of "big data" has brought data journalism at the centre of the public debate. Drawing from in-depth interviews with data journalists working at the American ProPublica and the Spanish Civio, this article aims to explore journalists' perceptions about the relationship between data journalism and transparency (both institutional and journalistic) in the two countries. The article shows that, although interviewees from both media organisations agree in the way they perceive transparency in relation to their work, the implementation of transparency laws and sponsorship in the US allows this country to go ahead in adopting data journalism.