Journalism by the dashboard light: Introduce rear-view mirror strategies to newsrooms

Audience metrics have penetrated the newsroom. Web analytics can track real-time data on any digital news item and get information about audience appreciation and engagement. Audience metrics, in particular, are considered as a means to enhance journalistic quality as journalists can better respond to user desires. Although a greater focus on audience-centred journalism is a commendable development, it is questionable whether the metrics-driven focus is helpful in this respect. Audience desires cannot be captured in metrics alone. To prevent newsrooms from being blinded by the dashboard lights, we argue that engineers and ux-designers must build friction in order to stimulate responsible interactions.