Open data in data journalism Opportunities and future directions

Background: In this commentary, we argue that it is time for communication scholars to turn their attention to how and why data journalists engage with the increasing amount of open research and government data available online.
Analysis: We review the limited scholarship that has investigated data journalists’ engagement with open data and suggest directions for future research.
Conclusions and implications: Research that explicitly examines data journalists’ use of open data is sorely needed, especially research that attends to the varied forms and practices that can emerge in different national and institutional contexts.