Datenjournalismus in Deutschland revisited Eine vergleichende Berufsfeldstudie im Längsschnittdesign

• Published in: Publizistik Vol. 67; no. 2-3; pp. 243 - 274
• Main Authors: Weinacht, Stefan, Spiller, Ralf
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: German
• Published: 01.08.2022
• ISSN: 0033-4006; 1862-2569
• DOI: 10.1007/s11616-022-00747-7

Der Datenjournalismus wird gleichermaßen stark in der Nachrichtenbranche beobachtet und in der Journalismusforschung reflektiert. Dieser Beitrag beschreibt das Phänomen zunächst im Kontext des Megatrends der Automatisierung des Journalismus. Anschließend wird die erste Trendstudie zum Datenjournalismus in Deutschland vorgestellt: Die Berufsfeldstudie war 2012 und 2019 im Feld. Die gewählten Items ermöglichen einen Längsschnitt-Vergleich der Entwicklung des Datenjournalismus. Bei einem Vergleich mit den nationalen Daten der „Worlds of Journalism Study“ werden weitere Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede deutlich. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass sich der Datenjournalismus in Deutschland zunehmend institutionalisiert hat und Datenjournalist:innen sich stark einem investigativen politischen Journalismus verpflichtet fühlen. Data journalism is equally strongly observed in the news industry and reflected in journalism research. This paper first describes the phenomenon in the context of the megatrend of automation in journalism. It then presents the first trend study on data journalism in Germany: The Professional Field Study was in the field in 2012 and 2019. The chosen items allow a longitudinal comparison of the development of data journalism. A comparison with the national data of the “Worlds of Journalism Study” reveals further similarities and differences. The results show that data journalism in Germany has become increasingly institutionalized and that data journalists feel strongly committed to investigative political journalism. The study aims to contribute to communicator research, specifically to professional field research around journalism. Accordingly, the phenomenon of data journalism is first located among other phenomena of journalism automation. Subsequently, the analytical criteria for the occupational field analysis of data journalism are derived from general occupational field research. The resulting survey is then methodologically outlined. Finally, the results of the study on the professional field of data journalism in Germany are described based on socio-demographic characteristics, activities, and role perceptions as well as the perspectives on future data journalism by data journalists. The results can be compared on the one hand with general data on journalists in Germany and on the other hand with the results of a survey conducted seven years earlier among data journalists in Germany. As in other studies on the professional field of journalism, the socio-demographic characteristics and the question of the future of data journalism are based on the constructs of previous empirical studies. The variables on the understanding of the role and the fields of activity are derived from the structural-functionalist role theory. Some of the main research questions are: Are data journalists, with their presumed affinity for technology, younger than other journalists? Do they carry out other activities? Do they have a different understanding of their role because they may have taken different life paths in journalism than their colleagues? The population of data journalists in Germany is unclear. The target subjects of the study were data journalists, operationalized by the question: “Have you worked on at least one data journalism project in the past year?” As a result, 57 participants took part in the online survey, which corresponds to a response rate of 21%. Summarising the most important results, the following can be concluded: data journalists in Germany tend to be mostly full-time employed professionals. They are particularly active in investigative or data departments. On average, they are 38-year-old male academics with journalistic training and an average income of 2401–3000 € net/month. With a view to the target expectations and thus their understanding of their role, they feel obliged above all to provide information and dissemination, whereby the three different types of “analytical controllers”, “quick communicators” and “neutral informants” are to be distinguished. The respondents are convinced of a rather positive future for data journalism in Germany. Compared to the representative data of the Worlds of Journalism study for all German journalists, data journalists in Germany are notably less often permanently employed and more often than average financed by online media as their main clients. They are more often experts or have a partial management function. Only rarely do they have an overall management function. They are younger, more often male and above average often academically educated. Concerning the role of theoretical expectations, these are more strongly anchored in the understanding of role in terms of the information and dissemination function as well as the criticism and control function. Their function as service and entertainment appear to be below average in terms of a given task. The share of permanent employees has increased from about one-third to about two-thirds. While data journalism was once a topic only for national print media, data journalists now work in all media sectors. This indicates an institutionalization of data journalism in Germany. While the number of cases remains low, the young age of data journalists has proven to be stable: In the seven years between the two surveys, the average age has only risen by three years. This suggests that, firstly, the cohort has not aged as a whole, secondly, only a few older colleagues have adopted the new trend of data journalism, and thirdly, younger colleagues have joined them. The dominance of male academics with journalistic training among data journalists remains stable. However, the proportion of female colleagues has increased. There is also still a reluctance to call oneself a “data journalist”. Concerning the role-theoretical expectations, the understanding of the role of “explainer” and “neutral informant” continues to dominate, with a majority distinguishing themselves from entertainment and advocacy functions. The respondents still have great confidence in the future role of data journalism in Germany. A large majority of them recommend data journalism to be included in the compulsory program of journalism education at universities. Whether programming should also be part of the curricula, on the other hand, is much more controversial.