Technology Arbitrage: Strategies for Visualization Production of China’s Data Journalism in Different Types of Media

This article delves into the strategies of different types of media (e.g., leading state-owned media, local state-owned media, private media), visualization production of data journalism in China, based on their different dual legitimacy (identity legitimacy and regulative legitimacy) in the pictorial turn and digital era. Inspired by new institutional organizational theory and resource dependence theory, qualitative interviews were conducted with 24 Chinese data news practitioners. The findings reveal that different types of media have adopted strategies of proactive innovation, passive catering, and commercial barter in data visualization production, showing a characteristic of technology arbitrage. The data visualization has been used as an innovative technology tool aimed at acquiring governmental and/or economic resources in the unique “asymmetric-controlled” institutional environment of China’s journalism. In the process of technology arbitrage, the visualization production of data journalism has demonstrated a practical orientation of selective depoliticization, and dual legitimacy has also been utilized and manipulated by these media. The findings shed light on the intricate interest relationship between the government and media, and enhance our understanding of the dynamics of visualization and provide empirical evidence for the intricate ecology of China’s data journalism.