The fast growth of data journalism and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the way the media industry in Tanzania operates in the fast-digital age, giving journalists new opportunities to improve their writing and editing skills and to uncover hidden issues in complex and huge sets of information and data.

Journalists find it necessary to rely on digital tools to analyse complex economic trends as well as fight misinformation and disinformation in society. They are now producing more powerful news with deeper, more accurate, and engaging stories for audiences than ever before.

Media and policy experts see the use of digital tools as an important skill in modern reporting and fact analysis in the digital world, where readers are now used to evidence-based reporting of news.

Using datasets, computer software, statistics, and AI systems helps journalists cover stories that are normally hidden in huge volumes of information for the sake of transparency and accountability.

The Chief Executive Officer of Nukta Africa, Nuzulack Dausen, says data journalism allows journalists to change complex data into simplified stories that are easy for the public to read. “Data journalism is a practice of using data to extract and tell stories in a form that will help the audience understand the reported issues,” Dausen said. “A journalist tells a hidden public interest story from data with evidence,” he added.

Nukta Africa uses infographics, utilities, graphs, charts, and visuals to explain stories on social, economic, and political issues across its digital platforms. It also has an AI policy to control the usage of AI-generated content. “The importance of ethics is to safeguard AI-assisted journalism to ensure transparency, accountability, and human oversight in content generated by Nukta,” he said.

He said AI has become an important tool in most newsrooms in Tanzania by helping journalists verify news, edit, format, and distribute content. “Through Nukta AI, the company gives summaries of key stories while elaborating on why the news matters to the public,” he said.

The company also uses videos and other interactive tools to engage its readers. In Tanzania, the majority of youngsters use their smartphones to read news.

Henry Mwangonde, a chief reporter at the The Guardian Limited in Dar es Salaam, said data-driven stories help reporters produce evidence-based news rather than opinion-based news, which is sometimes biased. “Data strengthens journalism by grounding stories in verifiable evidence,” he said.

Dr Jeje Kafigi of the Institute of Accountancy Arusha said data journalism helps reporters transform the way they report complex economic and business stories in simple language. “Data journalism is key to writing microeconomic and macroeconomic stories,” he said.

Dr Kafigi pointed out that the use of data journalism can expose corruption and protect the country’s economy.

According to research conducted recently by Nukta Africa and UNESCO, only one in ten journalists has basic skills in data journalism despite its growing significance in society.

Mpoki Mwambulukutu, a policy analyst, said the government should cooperate with the media to boost the use of data in stories related to accountability. “Data journalism becomes most impactful when data is available, understandable, and actively used to question and improve policy outcomes,” he pointed out.

Dausen recalled that during the 2015 General Election, a data-driven story published by Mwananchi Communications Limited, a local Swahili newspaper, highlighted regions with high numbers of registered voters, showing the figures zone by zone. According to him, all political parties changed their campaign strategies and returned to those areas to campaign again. “All major political parties adjusted their campaign strategies based on the findings and went back to those areas,” he said.

By Dennis Joe Msacky, an advanced scholar at the University of Portsmouth