The public is not interested in sifting through data. So without the analysis of journalists, the WikiLeaks logs may have died unread.
According to Alfred Harmsworth, founder of both the Daily Mirror and Daily Mail, news is "what somebody somewhere wants to suppress; the rest is advertising". By this yardstick, Harmsworth would have agreed that the WikiLeaks Afghan war diary is a remarkable news event. But he would have had no truck with the argument mounted by WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange that the move represents a triumph of transparency over interpretation. "Hard news catches readers," Harmworth believed. "Features hold them."
He knew what he was talking about. Without the analyses, comment and explanation provided by experienced journalists, the documents would have sat on the WikiLeaks website attracting the interest only of those with a fervid interest in the conflict. The White House and the Pentagon would have barely stirred.
On an infinitesimally smaller scale, I have my own example of the limits of data journalism. I’m taking part in a project called Help Me Investigate, a collaborative venture that aims to pursue matters of public interest, and I recently visited the town hall in Brighton to inspect the spending records of parliamentary candidates in the Brighton Pavilion constituency during the general election. The council staff were perfectly accommodating and pleasant. In other areas of the country, it has been reported, there is some confusion over what we are allowed to see and to record. I think this stems from the fact that, up to now, very little interest has been paid to this frankly less than incendiary topic.
A desk was found for me in a quiet corner, I was handed a ring binder bulging with paperwork and I was left to get on with it. Did I uncover evidence of cupidity among our would-be legislators? Sadly, no. It will come as no surprise to learn that the main candidates spent their largest sums on flyers, leaflets, posters and other bumf destined for the landfill. Unless you are the type to be shocked by the fact that Green candidate (and election winner) Caroline Lucas received a non-cash donation from the Political Animal Lobby or that Tory candidate Charlotte Vere forked out £41 for Google Ads, there is nothing in these documents to stir the blood.
That’s neither here nor there, say the proponents of data journalism. The fact that the expenses forms start life as Excel documents means it shouldn’t be beyond the wit of our electoral services offices to store the results electronically and upload them onto a site where anybody with sufficient curiosity can inspect them. Well, yes. But don’t imagine that this exercise in itself will be sufficient to hold our lawmakers to account. The Apathetic Tendency is probably the largest single political group in the country and its members have every right to expect the more engaged among us to do their donkey work for them.
To take an example from the world of finance and business: for a small fee you can sign up to Companies House Direct and fill your days inspecting the accounts of businesses registered in the United Kingdom. Will you do this? Of course not – you have a life. Quite sensibly, you will leave it to financial journalists to sift a company’s data, compare results and call up the financial director to ask impertinent questions.
Data sites are proliferating and many of them are excellent – UN Data, data.gov, and the Guardian’s own Datablog among them. But consider this: Julian Assange did not upload the classified documents and wait for the world to beat a path to his door. He entered into a partnership with media outlets he knew would give prominence to the material. Like Alfred Harmsworth before him, Assange understands that without the oxygen of publicity, data dies unread.
【重点单词及短语】
suppress v. 抑制;镇压
have no truck with 不同……打交道，不同……来往;与……毫无关系
triumph n. & v. 胜利;成功
transparency n. 透明度
hard news 指题材较为严肃，着重于思想性、指导性和知识性的重要政治、经济、科技新闻。
infinitesimally adv. 极小地
accommodating adj. 随和的;乐于助人的;肯通融的
confusion n. 混乱;困惑
stem from 起源于;出自
incendiary adj. 煽动性的
bulge with 由于……而凸出
flyer leaflet 传单 poster 海报 bumf 公文
destined for 去往;驶往
fork out 支付
stir the blood 激起某人的欲望(或热情等)，使某人热血沸腾，使某人万分激动
proponent n. 支持者;建议者;倡议者
hold to account 使承担责任
Quite sensibly 自然而然地
beat a path 开辟一条路
Question time:
1. What’s the relation between data and analysis of journalists?
2. Do people prefer to fill their days inspecting the accounts of data on the internet?
