Abstract
This comparative study seeks to explore the uptake of data journalism practice in leading Southern African newspapers from Botswana, Namibia, Eswatini, Lesotho, and South Africa. It seeks to find out how these newspapers, namely Mmegi and Botswana Guardian in Botswana, The Namibian and Namibian Sun in Namibia, The Post and Lesotho Times in Lesotho, and the News24 and Daily Maverick in South Africa and Swaziland News and Eswatini Observer in Eswatini, are adopting and adapting to data journalism practices. Using semi-structured interviews, this study also seeks to understand how journalists from selected Southern African newsrooms perceive the practice of data journalism. Furthermore, as a developing phenomenon in African newsrooms (Mutsvairo, 2019), it is crucial that we understand how it alters existing power dynamics among journalists, data analytics, and external data organisations in Southern Africa. This thesis makes a number of interrelated arguments. Firstly, it argues that data journalism in Southern Africa is gaining traction with newsrooms adopting and adapting its practices. Secondly, it argues that data journalism practices have assisted journalists and newspapers in these selected countries to enhance their investigative reporting; however, some socio-economic challenges persist in underdeveloped media sectors. Furthermore, it argues that data journalism adoption and integration in newsrooms are mostly fuelled by journalists’ skills and knowledge. Finally, it argues that the introduction of data journalism practices, such as new actors in newsrooms, has altered traditional organisational structures, resulting in new power dynamics. Theoretically and conceptually, this dissertation is anchored on the sociology of news theory and draws from the technological appropriation concept. I take the practice of data journalism as part of technological appropriation in newsrooms, which has disrupted news institutions as the sociology of news states.