Data Journalism and Politics: Election DataBot, European Data Journalism Network and Media 3.0 Foundation

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explain what a digital form of journalism, called data journalism, is and how it is applied in practice related to politics. Definitions and various aspects of data journalism (i.a. exemplary variables, most common in data journalism in general, ways of presenting data, factors that data journalists focus on in their work etc.) appear in the first part of article. Politics, as the title of this work indicates, is one of the areas in which this type of journalism is used. In this article, three projects related to data journalism are described. The first example of a tool, based on American politics, used to visualize and obtain data on congressmen and elections in general, is Election DataBot. This paper provides a description of this tool, as well as information about organizations that launched it. The next two initiatives related to data journalism are: European Data Journalism Network (as the name suggests, it refers to European politics) and Media 3.0 Foundation (related to Polish politics). They offer many practical options to observe, analyze and show political data. The research method used in the study is the analysis of thematic online sources. The hypothesis is that data journalism is still a growing branch of journalism that has its adhibition in politics, thus supporting journalists, researchers and others interested in obtaining and visualizing data.