On Conceptual and Methodological Deficiencies of Data Journalism-Related Studies in Turkey

Year 2020, Issue: 58, 273 - 289, 30.07.2020

Ilgar Seyidov

https://doi.org/10.26650/CONNECTIST2020-0070

Abstract

The Internet and technological developments have brought profound changes in social, cultural, and political structures worldwide. These changes have influenced not only the formal background, but also contextual frame of those structures. Perhaps no field has been more affected than media. The Internet and Web 2.0 technologies have led to the formation of new media platforms- digital media tools. Massive collections of data, search engines, and complex data services have emerged. Thus, the term “Big Data” has become widespread worldwide. Much research has been conducted to understand how various disciplines make use of and benefit from big data. In this context, media and communication scholars have focused on this newest concept in terms of effective data use and interpretation of complex information in practice. Big Data has become a keyword in contemporary journalism studies. The use of various data sets, graphics, complex charts, figures, and advanced techniques in news making and presentation has been discussed within the framework of data journalism since the late 2000s worldwide. The current study aims to find out how data journalism has been conceptualized in Turkey, and what are the inadequacies that need to be developed. To this end, data journalism-related studies were subjected to content analysis. The findings showed that there is still lack of conceptualization of data journalism and comprehensive research in Turkey.

Keywords

Big data, media, data journalism, content analysis, Turkey

Supporting Institution

The authors declared that this study has received no financial support.

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