The Power of Numbers: Four Ways Metrics are Transforming the News

Abstract

The benefits of analytics on news media organisations’ revenues and traffic have been well documented, yet their consequences for news production and content remain double edged. To date, most empirical studies on their use and influence have focused on newsrooms in developed countries, with less attention paid to their impact on journalism practice in emerging and transitional media systems, which are often characterised by relationalism, informal economies, extensive state-owned enterprises and relatively low internet penetration rates. Building on interviews with twenty journalists, this study examines how journalists in transitional Egypt adapt to web analytics and how they perceive the influence of audience metrics on their journalistic practice. Based on their testimony, we identify four ways that metrics are changing journalistic practices and news content that relate to their role as agenda-setters, as newsroom change agent, as facilitators of institutional capture, and as drivers of tabloidisation. Each of these have power implications that are discussed in relation to ongoing debates in the field of digital journalism.