Issues and limitations in data journalism covering the Covid-19 pandemic: The Italian case

Data played a major part in the journalistic coverage and
understanding of the Covid-19 pandemic. Particularly in
Italy, one of the countries most affected by the Coronavirus,
health authorities released on a daily basis a huge amount
of data in regards to the spread of the virus in the country. Based on interviews with Italian data journalists who covered the pandemic, this paper will discuss various issues and flaws related to the Italian data-driven coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic. In particular, the paper aims at discussing journalists’ own perceptions of official data reliability, the effectiveness of data in explaining the contagion’s progress in full and the most effective strategies to cover such data without spreading misguided or biased information to the public.