Interactives are more suited to some news stories than to others, on account of
narrative type and the dynamics involved. Interactives are not necessarily more suited
to particular subjects or niches than others, but in practice they are more likely to
emerge in some fields than others. This is due in part to the availability of
newsworthy data, and in part to newsroom dynamics. The resource-intensive nature
of producing interactive graphics limits what stories may be selected for coverage, and
important stories are more likely to be selected for coverage. Only one of the organi-
sations covered in this study (with a niche, rather than general audience) provide their
interactives teams with the budget to investigative or delve deeply into large data sets.
It would be wrong to presume, therefore, that the recent explosion in availability of
data from government may lead to greater scrutiny within the conventional fourth
estate. The rise of the network has brought "big data" into the newsroom, but the
availability of "big data" is not a reason for investigation or coverage in itself. On the
other hand, some numbers are considered more newsworthy than others amongst
professionals in this field so it may be that studies of news values (or story selection criteria)
based upon normative lists (Galtung and Ruge 1965; Golding and Elliott 1979;
Allern 2002) may require re-appraisal in light of this.