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. Im 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.
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