Brazilian’s 2020 municipal elections

2021

Brazilian’s 2020 municipal elections

Country/area: Brazil

Organisation: Nexo Jornal

Organisation size: Small

Publication date: 10 Sep 2020

Credit: Lucas Gomes, Caroline Souza, Gabriel Maia, Renata Rizzi, Gabriella Sales, Gabriel Zanlorenssi

Project description:

The project is a planned coverage of the Brazilian’s 2020 municipal elections, using infographics.

We produced more than 10 contents and divided our coverage in three parts: pre-electoral, electoral and post-electoral, considering that each moment had unique information to highlight.

Impact reached:

In 2020, Brazil had municipal elections at the same time that the country was struggling with covid-19 pandemics. Therefore, electors had to evaluate mayoral response to the crisis in every city. In this context, more information, based on data, was essential for voters.

The infographics of this project contributed so that the voters who follow the newspaper could have an understanding based on data of the candidates for the election, their historical context and, in a second moment, of the election result.

The election was also marked by the increase of gender and racial diversity, both in number of contenders and elected officials. The publications aimed to present this change whenever it was possible, even for live results coverage, which is something that some media outlets tend to not prioritize.

Techniques/technologies used:

For data analysis and processing, we used R and R Studio, which also helped us to plot the graphs. Almost all of them were made using ggplot2 and other Tidyverse resources.

For all publications, we first built a script on Google Docs and shared it with the entire team. Then we built the visualizations in Adobe Illustrator, where we exported an HTML code that we edited and published on the website.

What was the hardest part of this project?

Editing the graphics that we are going to present to readers. We think seriously and discuss which visualizations we have will be easier to understand. Even if it is not the most beautiful although the harmony of the elements and clarity is essential in our production. Our goal is to present clear and interesting stories with data.

What can others learn from this project?

Journalists can use this project as a reference to tell stories with infographics and bring understanding to their readers without necessarily writing too many paragraphs of text.

They also can use our planned coverage (pre-electoral, electoral and post-electoral) as a template for electoral coverage in general. Each moment demands different aspects to highlight and it is important to have a clear view of that from the beginning.