Datadista

The idea of Datadista was forged on a motorcycle, on a 2,000 km trip that Ana Tudela and Antonio Delgado made in 2016 to investigate and document the massive urbanisation growth in coastal areas in Spain. That project became a book and the two founders, who had previously worked in an established media outlet, decided to launch an independent digital publication specialising in data journalism, investigation and new narratives.

Datadista is "a media outlet that works to contribute to the dead angles that general journalism leaves, a medium for people who want to understand the world, not to reaffirm their opinions." In the face of the current polarisation, the organisation believes that society needs information and "not to choose sides".

The team consists of Tudela and Delgado, assisted by collaborators for each investigative project. The outlet focuses on investigating social issues, the environment, and the spending of public money. According to Delgado, Datadista's work consists of having the intuition to choose topics that are not in the mainstream media, doing investigative and data journalism, traveling to verify the data on the ground and publishing the stories of the people affected.

One of its main contributions is to "analyse in-depth issues that are under the radar of the traditional media," said Tudela. The team is proud to have brought to the news agenda issues that go unnoticed, such as environmental pollution due to the expansion of chicken and pig farms. An international investigation on this issue, led by Datadista and the Guardian and financed by journalismfund.eu, received a special mention in the 2022 Ortega y Gasset Journalism Awards.

In 2021, the organisation started a membership model; however, the team does not provide its figures yet. Its revenue comes from members, book sales, collaborations with other media, grants, and projects in partnership with NGOs.

In 2023, Datadista was awarded with the European Journalism Centre Climate Journalism Award, and with the Spanish Investigative Journalists Association (API) award, both in the category of Data Journalism.

Last updated: March 2024