GMA News Research, a special division under the News and Public Affairs (N&PA) group, takes care of storing the documents and research materials from all the N&PA shows provided that former’s staffs hand it over to the researchers. But more than saving and cataloguing data, the people at GMA News Research also find data on their own and produce in-depth stories about it.
According to Agatha Guidaben, a senior researcher at the division, GMA News Research was established in April 2003 to provide content support for N&PA programs. Prior to the team’s creation, broadcast reporters had to research for data on their own while they work on a story. GMA News Research helped ease the reporters’ workload by supplying them with a wide array of research material that they can use in their output.
At present, the team has 10 members, composed of a section head, an assistant manager, and eight researchers. It is headed by Florian Tarcelo-Balmes.
Researchers and reporters from N&PA shows rarely get to see staffers from the News Research team as the latter usually work all day at their desks calling government offices and private institutions to request for the latest data and statistics they have. The former, however, have easy access to the Research group’s collection through a special program installed at their work computers.
Each desktop computer at the N&PA division has a shortcut icon to the GMA News Research database where any N&PA employee can search for data. According to Guidaben, the contents are viewable to staffers on a read-only basis, meaning they cannot upload or edit anything. The database has a reporting function that allows the Research team to monitor how often each user accesses the service.
From time to time, the News Research team also comes up with its own in-depth reports based on its analysis of the information it has on its database. Researchers, after all, are also tasked to spot “noteworthy trends” from fluctuating data. Guidaben said actual examples of their analysis include monitoring oil prices, peso-dollar exchange rates, analysis of crime statistics, analysis of accident statistics and map-driven stories. The in-depth stories are published on GMA News Online.
In 2012, the GMA News research team published 11 reports online based on its analyses of data on government budget, congressional pork barrel and social services data, among others.
A caveat with the News Research’s outputs is that while it is rich in data, it is also text-heavy, and not all reports are accompanied by visual tools such as an infographic to help the reader understand the data better. Its report on pedestrian accidents, for instance, had 15 graphs and two maps in the story. The visual unfriendliness of the story might be a factor why it was shared on Facebook and tweeted just five times (presumably by the GMA News team) when it could have been a useful story for parents.
VISUAL OVERLOAD. One of the 15 tables and two graphs in the story on pedestrian accidents near schools
Is there a better way to present the data? The British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) web reports on the US presidential elections offer refreshing alternatives.
The BBC’s story on the voting power of Latinos, the US’ largest minority (“US election: Power of the Latino Vote,” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20153941 ) only had a 38-word introduction, pull quotes and subheads. The article, however, was able to explain the impact the “Latino vote” would have on the elections by using infographics and color-coded maps to represent how Latinos voted for the Republicans and Democrats in the 2008 elections.
BBC’s experience has shown that data journalism does not have to always be linked to investigative reporting. Bella Hurrell and Andrew Leimdrofer, special editors at BBC.co.uk said, “[D]ata journalism doesn’t have to be an exclusive no one else has spotted. The job of the data visualization team is to combine great design with a clear editorial narrative to provide a compelling experience for the user. Engaging visualizations of the right data can be used to give a better understanding of an issue or story, and we frequently use this approach in our storytelling at the BBC.”
Indeed, the stories on the site that used data journalism ranged from serious topics to quirky ones, such as the nation-specific fuel price calculator (“Fuel Price Calculator: how much do you pay?” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21238363), which used data from the British, US and international energy commissions, an in-depth story explaining the Eurozone crisis (“Eurozone crisis explained,” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16290598 ) and yes, even James Bond (“James Bond: cars, catchphrases and kisses,” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-20026367 )
GMA Network is at an advantage with regard to doing data journalism in the Philippines since it has its own research team dedicated to mining data. It also has an online news staff that can write stories and analyses on the wealth of information that can be found on the News Research database.
With a combined online and research workforce of about 70, the network certainly has the capacity to produce more reports based on data. What it lacks, more than training for visual storytelling for the staffers, is an understanding of the link between multimedia reportage and data. Even the most compelling data, after all, can be boring to any reader forced to understand a dizzying array of statistics on charts and tables. The Beeb, meanwhile, shows that with excellent visuals, trivial statistics like the number of women James Bond has kissed in all his movies can make for a good read.
