Can journalists use data in order to produce better journalism? In this text, C.W. Anderson traces the genealogy of data journalism and its material and technological underpinnings, arguing that the use of data in news reporting is inevitably intertwined with national politics, the evolution of computable databases, and the history of professional scientific fields. This work shows how the changes in specifically journalistic understandings of evidence can help us think through the current 'digital data moment' in ways that go beyond simply journalism.