Becoming Data: Web Analytics, Journalism, and the Emotional Dimensions of Rationalization

• In Event: Organizational Communication Research Escalator - Extended Session

Abstract

A defining characteristic of journalism’s transition to the digital age is the ability to track audiences’ responses to online news content. While scholars have begun to investigate the use of such data by news organizations, we know less about the production of audience analytics. How do analytics firms decide which aspects of audience behavior to measure, and how do they communicate the value of these measures to news organizations? Drawing on six months of observation and interviews at Chartbeat, a prominent analytics firm, this paper argues that the ostensibly rational analytics dashboard is designed to earn journalists’ trust by communicating messages of respect and reassurance, sometimes even at the expense of the data’s accuracy and instrumental utility. The paper enhances our understanding of the constellation of organizations that populate the contemporary media field; it also contributes to scholarship on “big data” by unearthing the social and emotional dimensions of analytics.

Author

• Caitlin Petre, New York U