journalists2csv/journalists2csv.py

from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
import datetime
import csv
import sys
import requests

soup = BeautifulSoup(sys.stdin, "html.parser")

table = soup.find_all("table")[1]

rows = table.find_all("tr")

the_date = ""

sheet = csv.writer(sys.stdout)

labels = [th.get_text().strip() for th in rows[0].find_all("th")]

dups = [{"value": "", "count": 0} for not_used in labels]

sheet.writerow(["Index"] + labels)

index = 0

for row in rows[1:]:
    cells = list(reversed([
        {"value": td.get_text().strip(), "rowspan": int(td.attrs.get("rowspan", "1"))}
        for td in row.find_all("td")
    ]))
    res = []
    for d in dups:
        if d["count"]:
            res.append(d["value"])
            d["count"] -= 1
        else:
            if cells:
                cell = cells.pop()
            else:
                cell = {"value": "", "rowspan": 1}
            res.append(cell["value"])
            if cell["rowspan"]>1:
                d["count"] = cell["rowspan"] - 1
                d["value"] = cell["value"]
    index += 1
    sheet.writerow([index] + res)