Journal article
Reaching readers matters: What The Junction's analytics reveal about digital audiences and the way we should teach journalism
Journalism Education, Vol.13(1), pp.42-56
Spring 2024
Metrics
17 Record Views
Abstract
Reaching online news audiences depends on the vagaries of proprietorial and opaque algorithms that control information flows. Understanding the tools that measure where and how content is delivered is crucial to improving the reach of news. To contribute to debates about how to best teach journalism in the algorithmic age, this article analyses the three most-read articles on The Junction – a publication that showcas-es the best university student journalism from Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia – to learn how journalism programs can better prepare students for professional practice today. The article asserts that because of the fundamental importance of search engine optimisation and analytic metrics, university journalism programs should integrate these skills early in their courses. However, as the three articles also demonstrate , understanding analytics alone is not the only means to success, as each story has distinct properties which helped them achieve wide readership, including strong and unique news values and persuasive and engaging storytelling: qualities all journalism programs should continue to prioritise in their pedagogy.
Details
- Title
- Reaching readers matters: What The Junction's analytics reveal about digital audiences and the way we should teach journalism
- Creators
- Jeanti St Clair (Corresponding Author) - Southern Cross UniversityAndrew Dodd Professor (Author) - University of MelbourneKayt Davies Dr (Contributor) - Curtin University
- Publication Details
- Journalism Education, Vol.13(1), pp.42-56
- Publisher
- Association for Journalism Education
- Identifiers
- 991013247861502368
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Business, Law and Arts; Creative Arts
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Local Fields
- Original Research - SoLT