Analytics-Driven Journalism? Editorial Metrics and the Reconfiguration of Online News Production Practices in African Newsrooms"

Abstract

Although the notion of measuring the performance of news stories is not a new phenomenon, the advent of online analytic tools has redefined the whole terrain of the sociology of online news production and distribution. This paper, which draws from an on-going cross-national comparative study of Zimbabwean, Kenyan, and South African newsrooms, focuses on the use and role of analytics in news production and distribution. It investigates how analytics tools are used in editorial decision-making and advertising negotiations. Based on structured and unstructured interviews with editors and journalists working for selected newsrooms in East and Southern Africa, the paper examines how the use of analytics is reshaping the evaluation of the impact, reach, relevance of news stories and performance of individual journalists. Our study shows that the deployment of analytic tools has altered how news organizations in different parts of Africa monitor, track, engage in digital listening and interact with their audiences, thereby spawning a new phenomenon we call “analytics-driven journalism.” The paper argues that newsrooms in different parts of the continent are, to varied degrees, now more concerned about newsroom metrics and engagement rates at the expense of the broader public interest dimension of journalism.

Keywords:

• Audiences
• analytic tools
• clickbaiting
• digital media
• editorial metrics
• news production
• public interest
• South Africa and Kenya
• Zimbabwe

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 This refers to “news stories that have no factual basis but are presented as news” (Allcott and Gentzkow 2017: 5).

2 The notion of “analytic” or “quantitative turn” (see Ferrer-Conill 2017; Petre 2015) in journalism relates to the overreliance on big data and analytic techniques to measure audience engagement and performance of news stories.

3 While it remains unclear whether these companies are able to attract advertising dollars, it’s evident that this push has become pervasive, and everybody wants to be there.

4 Another reason given for using multiple tools was that most of the tools were not developed with African markets in mind, and hence would not holistically address the range of issues when used exclusively (interviewee, CNBC Africa, 30 March 2017).