ABSTRACT
Data journalism exemplifies the increasing interaction between journalism and the computer field, which makes it a compelling case to examine and explore from a gender perspective. This chapter explains how data journalism represents both challenges and opportunities for female journalists based on qualitative interviews with an international sample of participants involved in data journalism (n = 31). On the one hand, the analysis illustrates how data journalists’ professional networks, work practices and culture are influenced by the computational field and the open-source movement, and how this provides opportunities in journalism for moving beyond gendered obstacles such as the gendered division of news beats, the old boys’ network and sexism. On the other hand, the chapter offers reflection on gendered challenges in data journalism – for example, in relation to digital skills, which have a high symbolic value in data journalism and are often stereotypically associated with masculinity.
