Analytical Journalism

Book excerpt: Responding to an increasingly complex and often contradictory barrage of news information, Analytical Journalism offers a first-of-its-kind guide to this emerging form of science-based journalism. Posited as a practical alternative to other more traditional forms of event-driven news reporting, analytical journalism relies on metatheory and methodology to highlight causal factors such as goals, norms, behaviours and social frameworks when covering events. Seen as adjacent to investigative and data journalism, analytical journalism seeks to provide a solution to the simplification and under-reporting of the causal context by drawing on scientific research and data to offer a deeper understanding of news events. Central to this new field is public understanding; providing news consumers with the information they require to navigate and act with nuance in the real world. Drawing on the author’s experience of teaching analytical journalism at the postgraduate level, this book summarises the aims and theory of the field and contains practical tools to help improve journalists’ contribution to shared public knowledge, including methods and examples of identifying and justifying new causal explanations of an issue. Analytical Journalism will be of interest to advanced journalism students and practitioners exploring alternative forms of journalism.