PERCEPTION AND APPLICATION OF DATA DRIVEN JOURNALISM AMONG KANO JOURNALISTS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The demand for information about government and other important institutions is growing in the areas of service, performance, and spending. Every day, more citizens turn to the Internet for government information, searching for more data, policy, and services. Consequently, the context and scope of data-driven journalism have expanded considerably from its evolutionary antecedent, following the explosion of data generated in and about nearly every aspect of society. Data journalists can now use free powerful online tools and open source software to rapidly collect, clean, and publish data in interactive features, mobile apps, and maps. As data journalists grow in skill and craft, they move from using basic statistics in their reporting to working in spreadsheets, to more complex data analysis and visualization, finally arriving at computational journalism. This study employs social survey to examine the perception and application of data driven journalism techniques among registered journalists in Kano state. The population was stratified in to television, radio and newspaper organizations from which proportionate samples were drawn. Consequently, a sample of 123 journalists from a population of 426 registered journalists was considered for analysis. The study found that 56.1% of journalists in Kano have an elementary or undifferentiated consciousness on Data Driven Journalism, 1.6% of journalists are highly knowledgeable on Data Driven Journalism and only 1.6% of journalists in Kano understand and apply the principles of data journalism in journalistic contents. The study concludes that there is a very low awareness, knowledge, understanding and application of the principle of data driven journalism among journalists in Kano. The study recommends frequent organization of capacity building programmes on data driven journalism for journalists and the integration of Data Driven Journalism into the curriculum of Mass Communication education in all journalistic training institutions in Nigeria.