Responses were incredibly mixed on both of these points. While most impact reports are strictly internal, some organizations such as the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism and ProPublica publish examples of their impact on their websites.51an ongoing project called Investigative Reporting + Art for which it has commissioned artists to create sculptures inspired by its center’s reporting.52schools and other public institutions.
Some organizations only produced reports for foundations that fund them, whereas others produced regular newsletters circulated among the editorial staff—sometimes including one-on-one emails notifying reporters of significant events. Here is an example from a mid-sized investigative and culture publication:
In addition to the qualitative parts of the Board report and grant reports referenced above, we produce a biweekly internal memo that catalogues the qualitative successes of the prior two weeks. We break these up into the following categories:
Impact: Politicians citing our reporting, law changes, corporate
actions, etc.
Events: Either that we’ve organized or at which our people have appeared.
In the News: A small selection of the highest profile and most interesting links and citations from other outlets.
Social Love: A small selection of the highest profile and most interesting social media mentions of our reporting.
Awards: All the awards we’ve won and been nominated for.
On the more quantitative end is one large-circulation, daily organization based in South America:
I usually relate different metrics of story performance (like time spent versus characters) and section performance (which sections get more or less visits than would be predicted by the amount of stories they publish). Then I go on to analyze what characteristics underperforming and outperforming stories have.
Organizations that keep the editorial team regularly informed of impact events through such reports said that it helps improve morale and keep the newsroom focused on its mission. As mentioned before, these efforts are more successful when the organization has articulated its goals and, consequently, what constitutes important measures of impact for it.