In the age of the fake news and distorted reality, it's time to integrate a tool to measure the relevance and social impact of media. The Granito Center for the Impact Economy developed the Newspaper Impact Rating (NIR), a tool to measure the relevance and social impact of newspapers.
The beta version of the NIR presents 38 questions in four categories: “Content”, “Reach and Engagement”, “Independence” , and “Seniority”. There are 220 aggregated points allocated to these four categories. At the end, newspapers are placed in a four-tier ranking, ranging from Superior Impact (+176 points), High Impact (110-175 points), Regular Impact (68-109 points), Low Impact (22-67 points) and No Impact (below 22 points).
“Content” relates to the production of original explanatory, investigative and niche journalism in a fair, impactful, objective, ethical and well-sourced way. “Reach and Engagement” refers to the audience – how many people consume content – and their involvement – how much people move beyond just consuming to a range of more participatory behaviors, such as sharing, commenting, or action. “Independence,” on the other hand, pertains to the right to communicate ideas, opinions, and information without restraint.
Finally, “Seniority” alludes to the capacity of newspapers to serve as depositaries of information on the progress of societies across history.
“Media have only scratched the surface in assessing their value to the world. To better understand and deliver that value, we need to improve how we measure the true impact of journalism.”
Benefits:
1. Newspapers will push their way up their impact ranking to attract more readers in the same way as universities strive for high standings in global education rankings to attract the young talents.
2. Impact investors would be equipped to look at quality and socially responsible newspapers as possible investment targets.
3. Donating for social causes could be injected into independent media, provided that their social role is vital for community around.
Source: World Economic Forum