Analytics

using data insights to improve journalism and impact

Analytics is using data about your work and audience to understand impact and improve. It covers what people read, how they got there, and what it changed. AI can find patterns in that data and suggest what to do next, so the question is what the numbers actually tell you and where they could push your journalism in the wrong direction.

Questions to explore

// use these as prompts in a workshop or on your own. There are no right answers.

How do you use data about your work and audience to make decisions today?
Which numbers do you trust, and which ones do you find hard to read?
Where could AI help you find patterns or measure the impact of your journalism?
How would you keep data insights from pushing you only toward what gets the most clicks?
What kinds of impact matter to you that the data does not capture well?

Expert voices

// notes from the journalists and AI experts who helped shape this kit

“A story that changes a law may get fewer clicks than a cat video. Measure impact, not just eyeballs, and let metrics inform rather than dictate editorial decisions.”

Walid Al-Saqaf, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies

Things to consider

Metrics can favor what gets clicks over what matters, so weigh them against your mission.
An AI pattern is a prompt to look closer, not a reason to act on its own.
Some of the most important impact does not show up in the numbers.

using this card

Pull Analytics when it is relevant and set it aside when it is not. Pair it with the other Journalism cards, lay them out on a table, and use the questions above to get everyone on the same page. Capture what you discuss on sticky notes or in a shared doc.