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Asian Newsrooms in Transition: A Study of Data Journalism Forms and Functions in Singapore’s State-Mediated Press System

ABSTRACT As more newsrooms practice data journalism in this age of “big data”, discussions on the forms and functions of data journalism continue to be Western-centric, focusing on its ability to conduct investigations, enhance democracy and empower the public. This study focuses on newsrooms in Asia transitioning into greater data journalism practice that may have an abundance of data at their disposal but operate within strictly regulated media environments, to uncover if data journalism takes on different forms and plays different normative roles in the region. Focus is placed on Singapore, a global city in Asia, and interviews with local newsworkers and a two-part content analysis of their “nomination-worthy” data stories and actual data stories produced were conducted. Results indicate a view of improving the audience experience as consumer rather than citizen, and a tendency for data stories on politics to be set beyond one’s own borders. A lower data literacy among newsworkers may also have hindered the complexity and variety of data visualizations used and resulted in extensive reference to “official sources”. To be deemed exceptional, data stories need not play a watchdog role either, or feature investigative elements, but may be informative in less adversarial ways.