"What gets measured...
gets done" is a business cliche. We measure our performance in the newsroom to reinforce our goals. Here are some of our measures for January.
Number of local stories on the front page -- 110 (73%). I'm pretty happy with this number. We believe that local news is our franchise and that it should dominate our front page. So many variables go into front page news: its freshness, its local relevance, its drama, its competitiveness, its newsiness -- which isn't the same as truthiness -- but local and news and unique are the keys. While I know some readers disagree, we haven't watered down the gravity of the front page by going local.
Number of local centerpieces on the front -- 27 (87%). Because the reader's eye goes first to the dominant image on the page, we want that to be a local image. (Yes, today is an exception; Coretta Scott King was a historic figure and the photo of the four presidents together is powerful.)
Number of corrections -- 23. Ouch. Bad month.
New online content -- 22. The growth of our Web site and development of our skills are vital. Of this total, we added 3 flash presentations, 7 audio clips, 6 memos and reports, 5 podcasts and one online journal. The total doesn't include breaking news stories or blog entries, which are assumed.
Impact journalism -- In January, Managing Editor Ann Morris tested a measurement for the journalism we produce that touches your lives and makes you act. The more journalism of consequence we produce, the better. This could be stories about the Wray investigation or the High Point ABC scandal or a photo as we had on yesterday's front page. She's begun officially measuring it this month.
Comments (2)
To report abuse of the comment feature on this site, please use the feedback form at the bottom of any page.
John, when you say Impact Journalism "makes you act," what do you mean by that? Are you saying that it should inspire readers to take a specific, concrete action? You gave a couple of examples of stories, but what are some examples of "actions" that readers could take that would show you that a story met this goal?
Posted on February 8, 2006 12:56 PM
We view it through a couple different lenses, all relatively subjective, which for our purposes is fine:
1.) Does our reporting cause institutional action? Does City Council or government DO something as a result of our reporting?
2.) Does a story or photo or headline evoke a strong emotion? Does it make you laugh or angry or cry? If the story is about some injustice, do you want to register your complaint with someone quoted? Does it make you want to write a check to help the subject of a story? Do you want to tell someone else about what you read or saw in the paper? We hold the bar pretty high on this one. The story must be damned evocative. The photo must be gut-wrenching. The headline close to perfect.
3.) Is the readership response high? Do we get a lot of letters about the story or photo? Do we hear chatter about it on the radio, on television, in the blogsophere, around town?
As I said, we're testing it as a way to measure whether our idea of producing more journalism of consequence is successful. Could be better ways and we're open to suggestions.
Posted on February 8, 2006 2:04 PM