Commissioning in the BBC Specials team is approximately 40 per cent internal
(where a team member is commissioned to create infographics by the Specials editor)
and 60 per cent external (where other teams and departments engage the Specials edi-
tor with work), though this is prone to vary: _Sometimes it_s more of a conversation_
(Bella Hurrel, interview by author, digital recording, London, 15 August 2012). Data jour-
nalists will select a newsworthy topic, or a large data set, or at planning or commission-
ing meetings ideas will be raised. The team do their own newsgathering, but they do
not have the budget to undertake investigative work: _If you have a big data set there_s
no point in going fishing in it & because you can waste a lot of time_ (Hurrel, inter-
view, 15 August 2012). On major stories the team are guided by experts, both in-house
(in the form of correspondents and section editors), and externally by the Royal
Statistical Society or the Office for National Statistics. At the FT there is a mixed
approach to commissioning. Simple commissions that can be done in a day (such as
timelines, or profile pictograms) are readily undertaken, but larger projects will only be
started upon if they are likely to be carried on a main index page, or if the team stands
to learn something from doing the project (which will, it is felt, in turn improve or
streamline future coverage). Unlike the BBC Specials team, there is a propensity (and
indeed a perceived necessity) to undertake _fishing_ exercises in large data sets, and so
undertake original investigative work.