Data visualization in Indian print media: a comparative study of English and Hindi newspapers

Abstract

The advancing technology is affecting every aspect of life and journalism is also not untouched by this. Due to digitalization, huge amount of data is being generated and the continuous advancement of computer science has made it possible to extract meaningful information by storing and analysing this huge data. The term “data journalism” has become quite popular over the last decade. Analysing data sets, extracting newsworthy information from it and passing it on to the public is data journalism. Data visualization also has a very important place in this whole process. Data visualization is used to communicate information extracted from the data to the users in a clear, interesting and engaging way. The amount of data-based content has started increasing in the news media as well, so the importance of data visualization has also increased. The use of data visualization improves readers’ reading experience and also helps to better understand the data-based content. This preliminary study focuses on the use of data visualizations by English and Hindi newspapers in India. In this research, a comparative study of various aspects of the use of data visualizations in English and Hindi newspapers has been done. Content analysis with quantitative approach has been employed as the research method. This study reveals that there is a big difference in every aspect of the use of data visualizations in English and Hindi newspapers. English newspaper used data visualizations in a better way than their Hindi counterpart.

Keywords

• data visualization
• data journalism
• print media
• english and hindi newspapers