Fostering civic engagement on “Ghana X”: an analysis of data-driven journalistic practices of mainstream and peripheral media actors

Abstract

This study employed qualitative content analysis to explore data-driven journalistic practices employed by mainstream and citizen journalists on X (formerly known as Twitter) and how these practices foster civic engagement among Ghanaian X users. The study was grounded in the materiality, performativity, and reflexivity framework of data journalism and the civic engagement model. The findings were that the main themes of data-driven narratives on X were politics, socioeconomic discourse, and particularly economic metrics. Materiality and performativity showed up in the human agency of journalists and in the skills and expertise of those who contextualise and interpret the data. Data journalists liaise with allied data production specialists to convert raw data into data artifacts to tell stories. Ghanaian X users actively used the offered data stories to participate in civic arguments and discussions on social media. They back data stories with personal anecdotes. Through the proactive deployment of surveys, the creation of X polls, and other cooperative efforts, the examined narratives illustrated the performativity of data journalism as a technique that subverts power structures. The study provides evidence for the important role of peripheral actors in data journalism and how their efforts drive civic discourse to potentially drive tangible societal transformations.