Data-driven Journalism: Survey on Data Processing and Cloud Services for Newsrooms

Spearheaded by the Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD), Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN), and Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), in collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), Big Local News, the Center for Journalism and Liberty, and the Pulitzer Centre, the emerging Journalism Cloud Alliance is launching this survey to gain insights into the requirements of various newsrooms and journalism organisations regarding data science, storage, cloud services, and data processing. Our goal is to work together to find ways of making data storage and processing capacity more accessible and affordable for investigative and data newsrooms.

Aim of this survey: This consultation survey is designed to gather input on what kind of data work you do, what specific tools you host or run yourselves, the kinds of data you store, what platforms you are using, and any significant cost barriers for your organisation.

We would also like to know if you are interested in joining this Alliance of similar organisations working to improve access to and reduce the costs associated with the use of computational and cloud services.

Length of the survey: The survey should take less than 15 minutes to answer. However, it would be particularly helpful if you could add additional suggestions and ideas in the comment boxes provided. We are extremely grateful for your time and input.

In accordance with the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), your responses will solely be used for the specific purpose of this survey.

Your position/title*

Your organisation*

What is the approximate number of full-time journalists and other staff working in your organisation?

Organisational contact e-mail*

1. What is your organisation currently spending on data storage and processing systems (per month in USD)?*

2. How much is your organisation presently spending on salaries for staff managing data storage and processing technology (per month in USD)?*

3. What kind of tools is your organisation hosting or running? (Please provide the name of your main tools and a description of what this tool is, what kind of data is stored, and what you do with that data)

	Name of the tool (e.g., “Aleph”, “Scrapers for pulling data from company registries”)	Type of data (e.g., documents, audio, video, structured data, database)	What do you do with the data? (e.g., searching it, extracting text from audio, large language model)	Is this data processing critical to your organisation’s mission?
Tool 1
Tool 2
Tool 3
Tool 4
Tool 5

4. What hosting service(s) does your organisation use? (Provide the type of hosting, the name of the hosting provider if possible, and how much it costs per month in USD)

	Host name (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP, Bare metal)	Type of service (“AWS Glacier Storage” or “GCP Compute”)	Current rough monthly cost in USD	What % of your budget does this represent? (if known)
Tool/hosting 1
Tool/hosting 2
Tool/hosting 3
Tool/hosting 4
Tool/hosting 5

5. What are the primary challenges or obstacles your organisation faces in conducting journalism work that requires increasingly large volumes of data? (Rank the challenges in order of impact)*

	Lack of financial resources	Inadequate infrastructure	Technical expertise	Data access and quality
Very important
Moderately important
Slightly important
Not important at all

6. Over the next 2 to 3 years, do you expect large volumes of data storage and processing to play a larger role in your organisation's activity?*

YesNoOther

7. Over the next 2 to 3 years, do you expect audio, video, and large imagery (including satellite imagery) storage and processing to play a larger role in your organisation's activity?*

YesNoOther

8. How much in total do you expect your organisation to spend on data services, data storage, and processing systems 2 to 3 years from now (per month in USD)?*

9. Do your current computational and cloud infrastructure providers enable you to do journalism work/investigations you'd like to undertake over the next 2 to 3 years?*

YesNoOther

10. How important are the following considerations in deciding which computational and cloud services to use? *

	Cost	Security	Reputation	Interoperability	Sustainability
Very important
Moderately important
Slightly important
Not important at all

11. Do you have concerns about the security and/or privacy of confidential and sensitive data when it is stored with cloud providers that are also developing their in-house AI foundation models?*

YesNoOther

12. Has your organisation ever switched cloud providers?*

YesNo

12a. What were the associated costs and considerations for doing so (estimate amount in USD)?

12b. Can you describe the process of switching cloud providers and highlight the advantages and disadvantages your organisation has experienced?

13. What other challenges and needs do you foresee relating to large volumes of data storage and processing in the next 2 to 3 years?

14. In the next 2 to 3 years, is your organisation planning to use/develop AI models (e.g., generative AI) to assist in your work?*

YesNo

14a. If yes, could you elaborate? For example, are you planning to develop and train your own LLM or will you use services of existing LLM or AI providers (e.g., use ChatGPT's API)?

15. Do you have any other plans to expand your work that involves AI, machine learning, and/or large language models?*

YesNo

15a. If yes, please elaborate.

16. Would your organisation be interested in using AI, machine learning, and/or large language models if computational and cloud services were more affordable, secure, and/or easier to access?*

YesNo

16a. Can you explain why you chose yes or no?

17. Would you be interested in collaborating with organisations with similar interests to secure better tech deals and identify optimal cloud providers?*

YesNoOther

18. What are your expectations of the Alliance?

19. Would you be open to discussing these questions with us in greater depth?*

YesNoOther

20. Other information or comments

Data-driven Journalism: Survey on Data Processing and Cloud Services for Newsrooms

About You

Current Capacities and Needs

Estimated Future Needs

The Impact of AI, Machine Learning, and Large Language Models on Journalism

Journalism Cloud Alliance