measuring the impact of cir's veterans reporting

Amy Pyle, Senior Editor Aaron Glantz, Reporter

Cole Goins, Distribution & Engagement Mgr. Lindsay Green-Barber, Ph.D.,

Media Impact Analyst, ACLS Public Fellow #DissectionD

Story 1: The VA backlog

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Response ●  Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans

of America issues news release

●  Newspaper Editorials (NY Times, LA Times)

●  The Daily Show picks up cause, cites CIR in “Red Tape Diaries”

●  VA Secretary Shinseki gives first interview in four years

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Congress intervenes

●  67 Senators write to Obama ●  160 members of the House of

Representatives write to Obama

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Data App 1: Backlog •  Backlog API came

out two months after story broke

•  Required a lot of

hand-to-hand outreach

•  Only track visits

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Text analysis

Data set: Presidential speeches that include the words “veteran” and “backlog”

22 total, 17 relevant

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Findings 2009

3 instances 1 military Funding Tech

2010

7 instances 2 military Progress Funding Tech

2011

1 instance 1 military Increase Funding Tech

2012

2 instances 2 military Funding Tech Attack

2013

2 instances 2 military Attack Progress

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Obama responds

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Five months after our story ran: “Finally the backlog is shrinking. In the last five months alone, it’s down nearly 20%.” - August 2013

Story 2: Backlog drops

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Story 3: Opiates

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Data app 2: Opiates •  “How to” guide

published with API •  Analytics at level of

event •  Localized stories for

regions with highest prescription levels

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Localized coverage by CIR

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ABC News partnership

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Response •  Two congressional hearings •  New non-narcotic pain

therapies being rolled out across the country

•  20,000 fewer veterans on

opiates #DissectionD

Challenges in Impact Analysis •  Lack of standards

•  Question of engagement

•  Overabundance of online analytics

•  Offline activity

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Phase 1: Needs Assessment •  Definition of Impact

•  Conceptualization of Impact

•  Method for tracking Impact

•  Method for comparing across stories and platforms

•  Community building #DissectionD

Impact = change in the status quo as a result of a direct intervention, be it a text article, live

event, or radio or TV program.

Conceptualization

Macro

Meso

Micro

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Reach

Impact

After the story breaks

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Internal communication

•  Weekly newsletter

•  Blog posts

•  Outcome Reports

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Next steps •  Data

•  Testing & analysis

•  Communications

•  Community of practice

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Impact assessment methodology •  Identify outcomes

Macro - government response, change in policy Meso - increased conversation around issues Micro - increased awareness

•  Identify processes Text analysis (human and automated)

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Targeted distribution + Organic pickup

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Data apps traffic •  Bumps not when stories published,

especially for Backlog •  Reveal Radio single largest driver of traffic

to any data app on CIR’s site •  Alabama Media Group’s share of the app

(al.com) resulted in a wave of traffic

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Text analysis (Wordseer)

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Takeaways •  Partnerships can help a story be localized

meaningfully •  Reach is more than distribution through

media •  Public discourse around an issue can be

measured •  Impact is a (long) process

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Questions?

Aaron Glantz: aglantz@cironline.org Lindsay Green-Barber: lgreenbarber@cironline.org Cole Goins: cgoins@cironline.org Amy Pyle: apyle@cironline.org

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