Assessing Impact of Media

[Commentary] Voqal has long funded media content and distribution, spending millions of dollars annually. It seemed prudent for us also to support ways to measure the effects of that funding. Though we believed that our grants were having a significant impact, it’s a big step forward for us and for our grantees to be able to measure results.

Using a sophisticated analysis that took into account the volume and complexity of the data set—all Tweets sent during weeks of coordinated media coverage vs. those in “control” weeks—Harvard Professor Gary King was able to measure specific instances of journalism not only increasing discussion of related topics, but also changing the way the public discussed those issues on Twitter. The majority of the participating outlets were small, independent news outlets including such publications as Truthout, In These Times, Ms. Magazine and The Progressive. It is important to note that newsrooms remained independent—they were not asked to take a particular stance on a topic, just to address it in their coverage.

The study demonstrates that even small news organizations can have a significant impact on how Americans discuss issues online. Philanthropic organizations working to expand democracy and influence the national conversation on key issues should take note: Independent news sources with a median outlet size of 50,000 subscribers have a proven impact on the national conversation.

[John Schwartz is the director and founder of Voqal]