About RecordSignal
RecordSignal is an independent data journalism and research business founded and run by Mark Tovey. It produces original stories, research for media campaigns and published reports.
Journalism starts with a question.
Public bodies hold information about almost every part of daily life. A council's waiting lists, police incident records or government spending figures can reveal something important once someone takes the time to investigate them.
RecordSignal works out which records could answer a question, obtains them and checks what they show. That can mean requesting information from hundreds of public bodies, combining scattered datasets or taking a fresh look at figures already available.
Mark Tovey
Freelance data journalist and researcher
Mark is a British freelance data journalist and researcher. His work has appeared in national newspapers and includes investigations using Freedom of Information disclosures, public records and original datasets.
He is NCTJ-qualified and graduated from the University of Sussex in 2016 with a first-class degree in Economics. He has written extensively about economics and finance, and his research has covered public spending, regulation and health policy.
Mark has authored and co-authored published research for UK think tanks, alongside his work in national journalism and financial writing. Those reports include original economic modelling, international and regional data comparisons, workforce analysis and a nationwide Freedom of Information study of NHS trust policies.
Clients work directly with Mark throughout a project, from agreeing the research question to reviewing the finished story or report.
Research you can check
Sources, calculations and limitations are documented as part of each commission. If the available data cannot answer a question, that is made clear before drawing conclusions.
The finished work explains how the findings were reached, in language that readers can follow without specialist knowledge.
Have a project in mind?
Tell Mark what you want to investigate, who it is for and when you need it. He can help you work out the scope and what evidence is available.
Discuss a project