WDET’s Crossing the Lines: Esteban’s Story via YouTube

Community-driven journalism is rapidly changing the newsgathering process. Media organizations now routinely invite readers to share their thoughts on issues, report on breaking news and uncover stories. But it’s often unclear if reader involvement leads to better journalism.

The Public Insight Network, a project of American Public Media, is taking steps to find out with a guide that measures the impact. A pioneering program funded by Knight Foundation, the Public Insight Network is a large-scale effort at crowdsourcing news; individuals can sign up to become “sources” to provide targeted information to journalists and reporters. Participating news organizations post questions through the network, and sources can choose if they want to respond to them.

Recently, for example, WAMU collected responses from sources on how the government shutdown was affecting them, and WITF in Pennsylvania asked readers for their experience signing up for health insurance through exchanges. Today, the Public Insight Network includes more than 200,000 individual sources informing journalists in more than 80 newsrooms. However, the guide could be useful to journalists who don’t use the Public Insight Network in helping them to evaluate their audience engagement efforts. 

Joellen Easton, Public Insight Network’s business development manager and the author of the evaluation guide, hopes that newsrooms will use it to help set goals and gather data around the implementation of community-driven journalism efforts.

“We view the engagement that happens in public insight inquiry as part of both the story—and the impact of that journalism—not just as a reporting resource for the reporter,” she said. “So understanding the quality and reach of that interaction is an important part of understanding the impact of your work.”

The guide comprises four sections, which outline how to design and implement an assessment of the Public Insight Network in a newsroom. It includes two evaluation instruments developed in partnership with Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Knight Foundation and Learning for Action.

• The newsroom staff survey asks journalists about their expectations for the Public Insight Network, its use and perceived value. Newsrooms that wish to understand how their investments in audience engagement are impacting the quality of their journalism can customize this survey to fit their needs.
• The community impact toolkit is a set of tips and questions for anyone who wants to study the community impact of a Public Insight Network-informed story or project. Journalists seeking to increase their influence in a community can use this tool to understand how their audience engagement efforts are facilitating this process. 

There are multiple examples of how the Public Insight Network is informing the way that local news and information is spread. In Detroit, WDET’s “Crossing the Lines” project explored political and cultural divides along the city’s Eight Mile section by asking network sources from the area what the rest of the city should understand about their neighborhood. The Public Insight Network has also been successful in motivating people to act. Following “Changing Gears,” a collaboration between Michigan Radio, Chicago Public Media and Ideastream in Cleveland that explored the economic transformation of the Midwest through Public Insight Network stories, 40 percent of listeners surveyed said that the project encouraged them to want to follow the issue and 12 percent of listeners surveyed said that the project inspired them to become civically involved.

The guide also complements a recent report from Knight Foundation, “Finding a Foothold: How Nonprofit News Ventures Seek Sustainability.” That report delved into the progress being made by 18 nonprofit newsrooms, many exploring strategies that pursue deeper connections with their readers through community-driven journalism, memberships or events. Together, these two publications are useful tools for organizations navigating the challenges and opportunities created by the disruptions in the media landscape.

The growth of technology and the social Web has forever altered the relationship news organizations have with the public, who regularly generate content on their own. People now expect to participate in news coverage on some level. Crowdsourcing evaluation tools, such as the guide from Public Insight Network, can help shape how news organizations respond and steer their own efforts to the most effective channels. 

Annie Stamps, 2013 strategy and assessment intern, and Mayur Patel, vice president for strategy and assessment at Knight Foundation

Download the guide from the Public Insight Network here.