There are many demands on a newsroom. There is the routine flow of news releases and stage-managed events that need to be covered. There are the stories from the various wires services. There are the unexpected breaking and developing news stories. There are the original stories which journalists stumble across in the course of their work.

And there are well-planned, in-depth reports, produced by reporters investigating issues and uncovering previously unpublicised information.

In this module we look at a tool that can be used to help media managers prioritise effort and resources on the stories that really matter to the target audience.

If implemented, you will find that resources, previously allocated to stories of little interest to your audience, can be saved and reinvested in the stories that support your content and market differential.

The content value matrix

Managing all the news sources mentioned above is a challenge.

Running a modern, converged news operation, delivering content to multiple devices, 24 hours a day, is like being on a treadmill; there is so much to do that editors sometimes find it hard to stop and take a hard look at the material being produced.

That is why a content review is required from time to time to ensure that journalists are being deployed strategically, and that the work they are doing is meeting the information needs of the target audience.

The content value matrix will help media managers focus resources on the stories that matter, and it will help them drop – or reconsider – the stories that the audience doesn’t find interesting.

Essential data

Before you start you will need to gather some data. This can be from audience research, or it can be from analysing the visits to your online and mobile material.

Use this data to find out which stories the audience values the most. Then plot the stories in a graph.

Draw a vertical line on a white board. This is your cost line. At the top put a plus sign and at the bottom a minus sign. Now draw a horizontal line through the middle. This is your audience appreciation line.

On the left put a minus sign, and at the right put a plus sign. Now enter the stories as a scatter chart.

Box 1 – high audience value, low production costs

Stories in the top left quadrant, Box 1, are stories that the audience values, and which are not costly to produce.

These are the stories on which you should focus. The more you do of these stories, the more the audience will appreciate your news service, and the more efficient you will be.

The challenge you face is to remain focussed on these stories and avoid being distracted by trivial news that has no real value to your audience or to your business.

Box 2 – high audience value, high production costs

Stories in the top right quadrant, Box 2, are stories that the audience values, but which are costly to create.

The challenge for you as a media manager is to move these stories into the top left quadrant, Box 1, so that they remain stories the audience values, but they are not costly to produce.

This will mean you will need to introduce more efficient workflows. Introducing a converged newsroom will help you achieve this.

Box 3 – low audience value, low production costs

Now let’s look at the bottom left quadrant, Box 3. You will notice that these stories are not costly to produce but, so far, have not been valued by the audience.

Stories in this quadrant deserve some analysis. It could be that these stories are important in terms of informing the public debate, but your journalists haven’t been telling them properly, or haven’t been producing them in a compelling way.

Take some time to consider how these stories can be moved into Box 1. It could be that some in-house training is needed in how to write scripts, use images or interview people. It could be as simple as organising training in better headline writing.

This might not be a time-consuming task, but the more of these stories you can move to Box 1 the better.

Box 4 – low audience value, high production costs

Now let’s look at all the stories that fall into Box 4. These are stories that are costly to produce and which the audience doesn’t value. This is the easiest decision to make. Simply stop doing these stories and, instead, transfer resources to the other three boxes.

The aim of the content value matrix

Carry out this exercise at least once a year; preferably every six months.

It will help you evaluate what you are producing, how you are producing it, how you promote it, and whether it still meets the needs of your target audience – on which your entire news business logic is built.

Story weighting

The content value matrix tool should be run in conjunction with another tool developed by Media Helping Media – the story weighting system. Read more about how to apply this model in order to assess the value of stories when creating a running order or list of story priorities.

The post Prioritising production with the content value matrix first appeared on Media Helping Media.

Different stories have different value to both your audience and to your business.

Some stories are fairly superficial without much depth. Such stories might be small, breaking news stories about a fire, an accident, or a new business development.

It might be possible to set out the main facts in a short piece with little or no in-depth analysis.

Other stories require investigation, further development, and a proactive approach to news gathering and news production.

This will often involve investing resources and effort to ensure the issue is explored fully.

So it doesn’t make sense to treat all stories equally. Which means that senior editors, news producers and reporters have to decide how much effort a story is worth.

This is where a story weighting system is invaluable. Let’s look at how it works.

Story weighting

In the graphic above you will see three story types. For the sake of this module they are labelled S1, S2, and S3.

An S1 story is one with high-value information, which involves in-depth reporting, is original, and has rich interactive digital assets (elements).

An S2 story is an important story, rich in information, and which deserves some digital interactivity.

An S3 story is a smaller story that needs to be told, but which doesn’t require interactivity.

You might decide there are other story types, but there is a benefit in keeping the system simple, which are explained below.

Benefits

Once a story has been given a weighting and a label, everyone in the news organisation knows what is required and what will be involved in producing the material.

The editors won’t have to sit down with each producer and reporter in order to tell them what they want in terms of elements; the story weighting system will have already set that out.

They won’t need to explain how long the piece is expected to be; the story weighting system will have already set out those parameters and expectations.

These parameters will have been set earlier as senior editors aim to cover the needs of the target audience, manage the newsroom resources that are available, priorities output, and ensure content is produced for all devices.

Once the story weighting rules have been set and circulated, all in the news process understand what is required.

Such a system speeds up news planning. It improves the efficiency of news meetings. It helps editors brief reporters and producers because they already know what is expected.

And news delivery deadlines are clearer, and therefore more likely to be met.

Now let’s look at these story types in more depth.

The descriptions below are just there to illustrate the concept. These will change depending on how each news organisation chooses to define the story types. You might give the story types different names; that doesn’t matter.

What matters is that you create your own system aimed at maximum newsroom efficiency and productivity.

Note: This system works perfectly in a converged newsroom.

An S1 story type

An S1 story will probably be an exclusive, or a massive breaking/developing news story which is of importance to your audience.

Those who rely on you for reliable and accurate news coverage will be returning to their screens several times during the day for updates. They will be eager to know the latest developments.

Such a story will have an impact on their lives. Therefore, it makes sense for you to ensure that you allocate sufficient resources to the story in order that it is told properly.

For example, an S1 story might involve a lengthy package on TV with at least three clips of three different people making three different points.

It will probably involve lots of footage illustrating the issue being covered, perhaps a vox pop of people in the street.

There might be some graphics, and it could include a piece to camera (stand up), at the end.

In interactive terms, an S1 story might involve several related stories, video clips, a timeline, an infographic, a bullet-point fact file, interactive maps, a photo gallery, and, perhaps, a poll/vote.

It will certainly include social media engagement.

There will also be related stories and links to the archive for added context.

Producing this amount of material, and allocating sufficient resources to it, will mean that other, less important stories that are also on the news agenda will have to be treated differently or dropped.

Based on the above, the editors defining your story weighting system will add timing for all the above helping the producers and reporters understand when the material will be required.

And that is where story weighting is valuable. The editor in charge of the day’s output gives each story a weighting so that everyone knows what is required and what is the priority.

An S2 story type

This story type is also important, but perhaps not the lead or second lead story. It will be a story that demands fewer resources and less effort than the S1 story type.

For example, an S2 story type might have a shorter package for TV, with perhaps two clips putting different sides of the story, it will involve some footage from the scene of the event being covered, it might require a graphic, there will probably be a piece to camera at some point in the package.

In interactive terms it will probably be a 300-500 word read with some video clips and an infographic. There will be some social media response added in order to engage the audience. There might be one or two related stories.

It will take less time and effort to produce than an S1 and, therefore, the journalist producing it will be working to a shorter timetable.

An S3 story type

This story type will be a general news piece that requires little effort. It will be a straightforward breaking or developing news item.

For TV, it will probably be a voice-over script, perhaps with a piece to camera at the end. In interactive terms, it’s probably a straight 300-word read with an image or graphic.

An S3 story shouldn’t take too long to produce.

Managing the newsroom output with story weighting

Now we have the story types, we can see how the editor-of-the-day can produce an overview of the main stories to be covered.

Below is a fictitious list of stories that might be considered for a TV bulletin, with the story weighting coding set out on the right.

This system means that everyone attending the news meeting, or checking on the news prospects during the day, is able to see exactly what is required, the resources to be allocated, and the time it should take to produce the material.

The story weighting system also prioritises effort on the stories that are of most value to the target audience.

This, in turn, makes the management of news far more systematic and focused on business priorities, which, in turn, leads to greater efficiency, a saving in costs, a stronger editorial proposition, and more informed and motivated staff.

Content value matrix

You might want to use the story weighting tool in conjunction with another method created by Media Helping Media – the content value matrix. Below is a slide prepared for a training course in Harare for the former Mobile Community Zimbabwe.

The post Story weighting system for breaking news first appeared on Media Helping Media.