Journalism Lecturers launch two groundbreaking books

Two of our lecturers, Dr. Dani Madrid-Morales and Dr. Jingrong Tong, have each launched new books based on their pioneering research on the emerging areas of disinformation and data in journalism.

A woman at a news stand looking at a row of newspapers.

In ‘Disinformation in the Global South’, Dani Madrid-Morales and co-author Herman Wasserman deliver a unique and geographically diverse collection of perspectives on the phenomenon of disinformation as it manifests in the Global South.

In many parts of the Global South, political disinformation campaigns, rumour, and propaganda have long been a part of the social fabric. On the subject, Dani says:

“Anyone with a mobile phone, from those who are very active on Twitter and TikTok to those who check WhatsApp to catch up with family and friends, has at some one point come across some type of false information, or what we call disinformation. 

“With the book, we are trying to make sense of what makes disinformation take hold and what can be done to prevent it. We do that by looking at countries that are often overlooked, even though they have been dealing with the problem for a very long time.”

Rows of data code on a computer screen.

‘Data for Journalism: between transparency and accountability’ sees Jingrong Tong offer an interdisciplinary account of the complex and uncertain relationship between data and journalism.

Frictions in data access, newsrooms’ resources and journalists’ levels of skill and data literacy determine the degree to which journalism can benefit from data. The book examines how these factors potentially exacerbate digital inequalities between newsrooms in different countries, with different resources. 

"Data for Journalism offers a very timely, thoroughly-researched account of the interactions between developments in open data and data journalism.” Says Jingrong.

“I provide this against a context of tightening controls over data and weighing transparency against privacy."

‘Data and Journalism’ can be purchased via the Routledge website. ‘Disinformation in the Global South’ is available through Wiley. 

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