Computational Journalism in Norwegian Newsrooms

Abstract

This article examines computational journalism as a craft practised in Norwegian newsrooms. Based on in-depth interviews with expert practitioners in six of the largest newsrooms in Norway, we find that computational journalism represents a continuation of traditional (investigative) journalism. While the skills and tools necessary to do this kind of journalism diverge from the typical journalist's, the values and aims align well with tradition. Even though computation enables journalists to cope with the size and scale of journalistically appealing datasets, we find little evidence for computational journalism to increase the efficiency of doing journalism or in any other way rid journalists from low-level technical work.

KEYWORDS:

• communication technology
• computer-assisted reporting
• computational journalism
• journalism
• online journalism
• rhetorical craft