What's beyond metrics? The social value of journalism
From its origins in modern societies, journalism has always played a crucial civil role: guaranteeing freedom of speech, enabling the circulation of news, and serving as a pillar for the exercise of democracy and the protection of citizens' rights.
Yet today, journalism – like many other sectors of society – is in crisis. It struggles to gain and maintain public trust and to demonstrate its value independently of its economic success, which today seems to have become the measure of all things.
Beyond metrics
Indeed, the success of a journalistic project is often assessed almost entirely through quantitative indicators, such as audience size, readership, and engagement metrics. But such an approach to evaluation overlooks a fundamental dimension: the real impact of journalistic work in fostering dialogue on contested issues, advancing citizens' understanding of complex topics, upholding and promoting core values, and strengthening social ties. And none of these factors can be captured by click counts or time spent on a webpage.
The “Public Method”
How to best evaluate journalism and reconcile its civic mission with economic success (or at least sustainability) remains an open debate across various media outlets. One of them, the Dutch public broadcasting service NPO, together with the collective Sjoege, has proposed a potential solution: an integrated evaluation framework called the "Public Method." As journalism.co.uk reports, this method seeks "to determine the importance [of news outlets] to both individual users and society as a whole – and translate it into daily choices, monitor and communicate it."
The model brings together the individual and collective needs that journalism can and should aim to fulfil. These two sets of needs are represented within a two-wheeled diagram illustrating the different ways in which they intersect. When journalistic activities meet these interconnected needs, social change can emerge. As the authors note, "change is not a goal in itself, but a result of journalism. This can happen at both an individual and societal level."
In the "Public Method" model, four needs are identified at both the individual and societal levels.
Individual needs:
- Know: Staying up to date with what's happening in the world is essential for many of us.
- Understand: Grasping the context in which events occur, forming informed opinions, and learning new things about the world are common needs.
- Feel: Many of the events reported on by journalism affect people in one way or another. Individuals want to feel that they are part of a larger whole – society – and to feel connected to its shared fate.
- Act: Receiving information alone is not enough. People want to know what they can do and how they can feel useful and relevant in the face of collective issues.
Societal needs:
- Discover: Making as much information as possible available to the public – including through active research.
- Set the agenda: Interpret the information provided, present both mainstream and minority opinions, and discuss potential solutions.
- Represent: Ensuring that all stakeholders' voices are heard, achieving balanced representation in the public arena.
- Confront: Acting as a watchdog over those in power, constantly holding them accountable for decisions that affect society.
Journalism’s value
According to its developers, the "Public Method" is a practical tool that can be applied directly within newsrooms, enabling editorial teams to clarify which needs they consider most important and how they intend to contribute to their audience and society. This process helps determine a project's journalistic value. To facilitate such internal evaluation, Sjoege and NPO have developed a set of cards designed for use in this assessment exercise.
Those who have begun applying this method – such as NPO itself – point out that it is not merely a matter of evaluation. Still, it encourages a rethinking of the very foundations of a news organisation. Above all, it requires editorial leadership to reconsider what they mean by success and, consequently, what they want their outlet to accomplish.
Once the focus shifts from audience numbers (quantitative values) to genuine audience participation and civic engagement (qualitative values), the core objectives of a journalistic project also change. At that point, it is no longer just a question of measurement, but of contributing to the development of informed and engaged citizens, strengthening public trust in journalism, and delivering meaningful knowledge, understanding, and action to individuals and society as a whole.
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