CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 26Media Studies and CommunicationJournalism and Media StudiesCommunication and COVID-19 Impact

A softer kind of hard news? Data journalism and the digital renewal of public service news in Sweden

Open access
Widholm, Andreas, Appelgren, Ester·2022·New Media & Society
DOI 10.1177/1461444820975411
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

Over the past decade, data journalism has received considerable attention among scholars, pointing to novel forms of investigative reporting as well as new daily practices of news production. This study contributes to existing scholarship by conceptualizing data journalism through distinctions between hard and soft news in relation to service journalism. We analyze news produced by specialized data desks in Swedish public service organizations over a 5-year period (2015–2019) and propose a model for how service journalism attributes can be used as a bridge between the binary categories of hard and soft in data journalism. With this model, we point to how data journalism in public service organizations challenges established notions of soft and hard news and how hybrid production practices open up new research trajectories concerning the societal significance of news in the digital age.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1177/1461444820975411

Cites

1 of 1 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 54

  1. Aalberg T and Curran J (2012) How the Media Inform Democracy: A Comparative Approach. London: Routledge.
  2. Allern S and Pollack E (2019) Journalism as a public good: a scandinavian perspective. Journalism 20(11): 1423-1439.
  3. Anderson B and Borges-Rey E (2019) Encoding the UX: user Interface as a site of encounter between data journalists and their constructed audiences. Digital Journalism 7(9): 1253-1269.
  4. Appelgren E (2018) An illusion of interactivity: the paternalistic side of data journalism. Journalism Practice 12(3): 308-325.
  5. Appelgren E, Krøvel R, Linden CG, et al. (2020) Expectations, challenges, and expertise: the importance of non-western data journalism. In: Mutsvairo B, Borges-Rey E and Bebawi S (eds) Data Journalism in the Global South. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. xxi-xxxv.
  6. Baack S (2018) Practically engaged: the entanglements between data journalism and civic tech. Digital Journalism 6(6): 673-692.
  7. Baum M (2002) Sex, lies, and war: how soft news brings foreign policy to the inattentive public. The American Political Science Review 96(1): 91-109.
  8. Beck U and Beck-Gernsheim E (2002) Individualization: Institutionalized Individualism and Its Social and Political Consequences. London: SAGE.
  9. Boczkowski PJ (2009) Rethinking hard and soft news production: from common ground to diver- gent paths. Journal of Communication 59(1): 98-116.
  10. Borges-Rey E (2016) Unravelling data journalism. Journalism Practice 10(7): 833-843.
  11. Bradshaw P (2014) Data journalism. In: Lawrie Z and Craig D (eds) Ethics for Digital Journalists: Emerging Best Practices. New York: Routledge, pp. 202-219.
  12. Chadwick A (2017) The Hybrid Media System: Politics and Power. New York: Oxford University Press.
  13. Cushion S (2019) PSM contribution to democracy: news, editorial standards and informed citi- zenship. In: Eva P and Beckett C (eds) Public Service Broadcasting and Media Systems in Troubled European Democracies. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 23-39.
  14. Cushion S, Lewis J and Callaghan R (2017) Data journalism, impartiality and statistical claims: towards more independent scrutiny in news reporting. Journalism Practice 11(10): 1198-1215.
  15. Deuze M and Witschge T (2018) Beyond journalism: theorizing the transformation of journalism. Journalism 19(2): 165-181.
  16. Eide M (2017) The culture of service journalism. In: Kristensen NN and Riegert K (eds) Cultural Journalism in the Nordic Countries. Gothenburg: Nordicom, pp. 181-194.
  17. Eide M and Knight G (1999) Public/private service: service journalism and the problems of every- day life. European Journal of Communication 14(4): 525-547.
  18. Engebretsen M, Kennedy H and Weber W (2018) Data visualization in Scandinavian newsrooms: emerging trends in journalistic visualization practices. Nordicom Review 39(2): 3-18.
  19. Esser F, de Vreese C, Strömbäck J, et al. (2012) Political information opportunities in Europe: a longitudinal and comparative study of thirteen television systems. The International Journal of Press/Politics 17(3): 247-274.
  20. U and Nørgaard Kristensen K (2019) Unpacking lifestyle journalism and constructive jour- nalism via service journalism. In Vodanovic L (ed.) Lifestyle Journalism: Social Media, Consumption and Experience. London: Routledge, pp. 13-25.
  21. Fürsich E (2012) Lifestyle journalism as popular journalism: strategies for evaluating its public role. Journalism Practice 6(1): 12-25.
  22. Glogger I and Otto LP (2019) Journalistic views on hard and soft news: cross-validating a popular concept in a factorial survey. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 96(3): 811-829.
  23. Gray J, Chambers L and Bounegru L (2012) The Data Journalism Handbook. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Media.
  24. Gynnild A (2014) Journalism innovation leads to innovation journalism: the impact of computa- tional exploration on changing mindsets. Journalism 15(6): 713-730.
  25. Hanitzsch T and Vos TP (2018) Journalism beyond democracy: a new look into journalistic roles in political and everyday life. Journalism 19(2): 146-164.
  26. Hermida A and Young ML (2016) Finding the data unicorn: a hierarchy of hybridity in data and computational journalism. Digital Journalism 5(2): 159-176.
  27. Hermida A and Young ML (2019) Data Journalism and the Regeneration of News. London: Routledge.
  28. Karidi M (2018) News media logic 2.0-assessing commercial news media logic in cross-tem- poral and cross-channel analysis. In: Thimm C, Anastasiadis M and Einspänner-Pflock J (eds) Media Logic(s) Revisited: Modelling the Interplay between Media Institutions, Media Technology and Societal Change. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 63-84.
  29. Karlsen J and Stavelin E (2014) Computational journalism in Norwegian newsrooms. Journalism Practice 8(1): 34-48.
  30. Karlsson M (2016) Goodbye politics, hello lifestyle. Changing news topics in tabloid, quality and local newspaper websites in the UK and Sweden from 2002 to 2012. Observatorio (OBS*) 10(4): 150-165.
  31. Krippendorff K (2013) Content Analysis: An Introduction to its Methodology. Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE.
  32. Lehman-Wilzig SN and Seletzky M (2010) Hard news, soft news, "general" news: the necessity and utility of an intermediate classification. Journalism 11(1): 37-56.
  33. Lowrey W and Hou J (2018) All forest, no trees? Data journalism and the construction of abstract categories. Journalism. Epub ahead of print 29 April. DOI: 10.1177/1464884918767577. · DOI
  34. McIntyre K (2019) Solutions journalism: the effects of including solution information in news stories about social problems. Journalism Practice 13(1): 16-34.
  35. Mast J, Coesemans R and Temmerman M (2017) Hybridity and the news: blending genres and interaction patterns in new forms of journalism. Journalism 18(1): 3-10.
  36. Otto L, Glogger I and Boukes M (2017) The softening of journalistic political communication: a comprehensive framework model of sensationalism, soft news, infotainment, and tabloidization. Communication Theory 27(2): 136-155.
  37. Örnebring H and Jönsson AM (2004) Tabloid journalism and the public sphere: a historical per- spective on tabloid journalism. Journalism Studies 5(3): 283-295.
  38. Parasie S and Dagiral E (2013) Data-driven journalism and the public good: "Computer-assisted- reporters" and "programmer-journalists" in Chicago. New Media & Society 15(6): 853-871.
  39. Patterson TE (2000) Doing Well and Doing Good: How Soft News Are Shrinking the News Audience and Weakening Democracy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  40. Plasser F (2005) From hard to soft news standards? How political journalists in different media systems evaluate the shifting quality of news. Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics 10(2): 47-68.
  41. Reinemann C, Stanyer J, Scherr S, et al. (2012) Hard and soft news: a review of concepts, opera- tionalizations and key findings. Journalism 13(2): 221-239.
  42. Riegert K, Roosvall A and Widholm A (2015) The political in cultural journalism: fragmented interpretative communities in the digital age. Journalism Practice 9(6): 773-790.
  43. Schudson M (2001) The objectivity norm in American journalism. Journalism 2(2): 149-170.
  44. Shagrir OK and Keinonen H (2014) Public service television in a multi-platform environment: a comparative study in Finland and Israel. VIEW Journal of European Television History and Culture 3(6): 14-23.
  45. Shoemaker PJ and Cohen AA (2006) News around the World. Content, Practitioners, and the Public. New York: Routledge.
  46. Stalph F (2018) Classifying data journalism: a content analysis of daily data-driven stories. Journalism Practice 12(10): 1332-1350.
  47. Syvertsen T, Enli G, Mjøs Ole J, et al. (2014) The Media Welfare State: Nordic Media in the Digital Era. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.
  48. Tuchman G (1973) Making news by doing work: routinizing the unexpected. American Journal of Sociology 79(1): 110-131.
  49. Usher N (2012) Service journalism as community experience: personal technology and personal finance at the New York Times. Journalism Practice 6(1): 107-121.
  50. Uskali TI and Kuutti H (2015) Models and streams of data journalism. The Journal of Media Innovations 2(1): 77-88.
  51. Van Dijck J and Poell T (2015) Making public television social? Public service broadcasting and the challenges of social media. Television & New Media 16(2): 148-164.
  52. Widholm A (2016) Tracing online news in motion: time and duration in the study of liquid journalism. Digital Journalism 4(1): 24-40.
  53. Witschge T, Anderson CW, Domingo D, et al. (2018) Dealing with the mess (we made): unrave- ling hybridity, normativity, and complexity in journalism studies. Journalism 20(5): 651-659.
  54. Zamith R (2019) Transparency, interactivity, diversity, and information provenance in eve- ryday data journalism. Digital Journalism. Epub ahead of print 2 January. DOI: 10.1080/21670811.2018.1554409. · DOI

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Widholm, A., & Appelgren, E.
Affiliations
  • Stockholm University (SE)
  • Södertörn University (SE)
Corresponding author
Widholm, Andreas
ORCID
Venue
New Media & Society
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2020-11-30
Volume
24
Issue
6
Pages
1363-1381
ISSN
  • 1461-4448 (ISSN-L)
  • 1461-7315
DOI
10.1177/1461444820975411
OpenAlex
W3107186682
Cited by
26
References
1
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 3
FWCI
4.80
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • New Media & Society (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Diva portal (Dalarna University Library) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Communication › Media Studies and Communication
  • Social Sciences › Communication › Journalism and Media Studies
  • Social Sciences › Communication › Communication and COVID-19 Impact
Keywords
data journalism, hard news, soft news, service journalism, news production practices, online news

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review