Influenced by scholarship in the sociology of work, several studies by Lowrey
(1999, 2002a, 2002b, 2003) explore how the news we receive is shaped by the con-
flicting norms held by competing sub-groups within the fluid setting of the news
room. Lowrey found that the demands of organisational need are not the only deter-
mining factors at play in news production; professional norms and values are impor-
tant too, particularly where professionals from a range of backgrounds come
together to produce the news. Lowrey_s approach allows us to move beyond the
management structures and ideological norms that shape behaviour, to see the
autonomy exerted by individuals over the news we consume. But this approach is
premised on a binary conflict between _word_ and _picture_ people from a pre-
converged era. For the exemplar in the present study, we must consider the _data
person_, and alternatively the statistician (or data journalist), the data visualisation
expert (or graphic designer), and the computer programmer, all of whom may have
their own pre-conceptions of what constitutes newsworthiness in data, and all of
whom may exercise some degree of influence on the interactive graphics produced
in today_s news online. For this reason, in addition to establishing the role and
functioning of interactive teams in the contemporary newsroom, the author also
seeks to identify the extent to which _interactive norms_ exist within these profes-
sions, such as whether there is: