import csv, cStringIO

data = [['NULL/None value',None],
        ['empty string','']]

f = cStringIO.StringIO()
csv.writer(f).writerows(data)

f = cStringIO.StringIO(f.getvalue())
data2 = [e for e in csv.reader(f)]

print "input : ", data
print "output: ", data2

data = [d if d!=None else 'None' for d in data]
data2 = [d if d!='None' else None for d in data2]

class NONE(object):
    def __repr__(self): # method csv.writer class uses to write values
        return 'NONE'   # unique string value to represent None
    def __len__(self):  # method called to determine length and truthiness
        return 0        # (optional)

NONE = NONE()  # singleton instance of the class

import csv
import cStringIO

data = [['None value', None], ['NONE value', NONE], ['empty string', '']]
f = cStringIO.StringIO()
csv.writer(f).writerows(data)
f = cStringIO.StringIO(f.getvalue())
print " input:", data
print "output:", [e for e in csv.reader(f)]

import csv

class csvProxyBase(object): _NONE = '<None>'  # unique value representing None

class csvWriter(csvProxyBase):
    def __init__(self, csvfile, *args, **kwrags):
        self.writer = csv.writer(csvfile, *args, **kwrags)
    def writerow(self, row):
        self.writer.writerow([self._NONE if val is None else val for val in row])
    def writerows(self, rows):
        map(self.writerow, rows)

class csvReader(csvProxyBase):
    def __init__(self, csvfile, *args, **kwrags):
        self.reader = csv.reader(csvfile, *args, **kwrags)
    def __iter__(self):
        return self
    def next(self):
        return [None if val == self._NONE else val for val in self.reader.next()]

if __name__ == '__main__':
    import cStringIO as StringIO
    data = [['None value', None], ['empty string', '']]
    f = StringIO.StringIO()
    csvWriter(f).writerows(data)
    f = StringIO.StringIO(f.getvalue())
    print " input:", data
    print "output:", [e for e in csvReader(f)]

>>> data = [['NULL/None value',None],['empty string','']]
>>> i = cStringIO.StringIO()
>>> csv.writer(i).writerows(map(str,row) for row in data)
>>> print i.getvalue()
NULL/None value,None
empty string,

>>> import json
>>> json.dumps(['foo', '', None, 666])
'["foo", "", null, 666]'
>>>

import csv, cStringIO
NULL = '<NULL>'  # something unlikely to ever appear as a regular value in your csv files

class MyCsvWriter(object):
    def __init__(self, *args, **kwrds):
        self.csv_writer = csv.writer(*args, **kwrds)

    def __getattr__(self, name):
        return getattr(self.csv_writer, name)

    def writerow(self, row):
        self.csv_writer.writerow([item if item is not None else NULL
                                      for item in row])
    def writerows(self, rows):
        for row in rows:
            self.writerow(row)

class MyCsvReader(object):
    def __init__(self, *args, **kwrds):
        self.csv_reader = csv.reader(*args, **kwrds)

    def __getattr__(self, name):
        return getattr(self.csv_reader, name)

    def __iter__(self):
        rows = iter(self.csv_reader)
        for row in rows:
            yield [item if item != NULL else None for item in row]

data = [['NULL/None value', None],
        ['empty string', '']]

f = cStringIO.StringIO()
MyCsvWriter(f).writerows(data)  # instead of csv.writer(f).writerows(data)

f = cStringIO.StringIO(f.getvalue())
data2 = [e for e in MyCsvReader(f)]  # instead of [e for e in csv.reader(f)]

print "input : ", data
print "ouput : ", data2