Tabloid Data Journalism?

At the risk of coming across as a bit snobbish, this ad for a Data Journalist for The Penny Hoarder riled me somewhat…

Do you have a passion for telling stories with data? We’re looking for a data journalist who can crunch statistics about jobs, budgeting, spending and saving — and produce compelling digital content that resonates with our readers. You should have expertise in data mining and analysis, and the ability to present the results in conversational, fun articles and/or telling graphics.
…
As our data journalist, you will produce revealing, clickable, data-driven articles and/or graphics, plus serve as a resource for our growing team of writers and editors. We envision using data sources such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Census Bureau to report on personal finance issues of interest to our national readership of young professionals, coupon fans and financially striving people of all ages. We want to infuse our blog with seriously interesting data while staying true to our vibe: fun, weird, useful.

Our ideal candidate…
– …
– Can write in a bloggy, conversational voice that emphasizes what the data means to real people
– Has a knack for identifying clicky topics and story angles that are highly shareable
– Gets excited when a blog post goes viral
– …

According to Wikipedia (who else?!;-), Tabloid journalism is a style of journalism that emphasizes sensational crime stories, gossip columns about celebrities and sports stars, junk food news and astrology.

(Yes, yes, I know, I know, tabloid papers can also do proper, hard hitting investigative journalism… But I’m thinking about that sense of the term…)

So what might tabloid data journalism be? See above?

PS ish prompted by @SophieWarnes, it’s probably worth mentioning the aborted Ampp3d project in this context… eg Ampp3d launches as ‘socially-shareable data journalism’ site, Martin Belam talks about Trinity Mirror’s data journalism at Ampp3d and The Mirror Is Making Widespread Cuts To Its Online Journalism.

PPS …and a write-up of that by Sophie: Is there room for ‘tabloid data journalism’?