ABSTRACT
In the last decade, computer databases and algorithms have made their way into
news organizations (Gray, Bounegru, and Chambers 2012; Lewis 2011), where they are
used in particular as tools supporting journalistic investigation. With the rise of so-called
“data journalism” in the United States as well as in Europe, a growing number of jour-
nalists and programmers see data-processing tools as appropriate means to uncover
officials’ wrongdoings, social inequities, or environmental issues (Cohen, Hamilton, and
Turner 2011; Parasie and Dagiral 2013). Established news organizations (such as The
New York Times or The Guardian) as well as nonprofit organizations (such as ProPublica)
and less formal groups of investigative journalists have produced revelations based on
data-processing techniques.
