Data Journalism Practice in Sub-Saharan African Media Systems: A Cross-National Survey of Journalists’ Perceptions in Zambia and Tanzania

ABSTRACT

This study explores the state of data-driven journalism practices in Sub-Saharan Africa. It aims at examining journalists’ perceptions of data-driven journalism in Zambia and Tanzania as it attempts to redefine and demystify the concept. We base our hypotheses on the notion that most journalists in Zambia and Tanzania perceive data journalism as a field that cannot be defined outside quantitative methods—approaches mostly emphasized by western scholarship. Our cross-national survey findings suggest that journalists from Zambia and Tanzania do not consider themselves as data journalists even when they practice it. This is because of the lack of advanced computer-assisted reporting equipment and the dwindling skills in advanced quantitative methods that are mostly accompanied by statistical software. Findings also suggest that female journalists showed more scepticism of data journalism practice, leading to fewer women with interest in pursuing data journalism in Zambia and Tanzania

KEYWORDS:

• Data journalism
• sub-Saharan Africa
• Zambia
• Tanzania
• Computer-assisted reporting (CAR)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 One-way ANOVA (analysis of variance) refers to a test conducted to compare the means of two or more groups (independent variables) on one dependent variable so as to determine whether the group means are significantly different from each other. In our case, Zambia and Tanzania represented those groups.