News selection criteria in the digital age: Professional norms versus online audience metrics

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

On newspaper websites, journalists can observe the preferences of the audience in unprecedented detail and for low costs, based on the audience clicks (i.e. page views) for specific news articles. This article addresses whether journalists use this information to cater to audience preferences in their news selection choices. We analyzed the print and online editions of five national newspapers from the Netherlands with a mixed-method approach. Using a cross-lagged analysis covering 6 months, we found that storylines of the most-viewed articles were more likely to receive attention in subsequent reporting, which indicates that audience clicks affect news selection. However, based on interviews with editors we found that they consider the use of this information for news selection to conflict with professional norms. We elaborate on the implications of this discrepancy in the norms and behaviors of journalists, and project directions for future studies.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1037-1053
Number of pages17
JournalJournalism
Volume17
Issue number8
Early online date28 Jul 2015
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Nov 2016

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