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News Alchemists #13: "The Public Value Method: redefining how to measure journalism's value"

Hello and welcome back to the News Alchemists newsletter!

It's a small miracle that this email is landing in your inbox without delay because in the last week I suffered from a very acute case of what I call wild procrastination. 😵‍💫

I'm prone to procrastination, that's nothing new – but last week was another level. Which is ironic considering that in many ways a lot of the concerns that accompanied me in the first quarter of this year are now resolved. (The science is clear: procrastination is often triggered by stress.)

So now I wonder if that's exactly the point: I've been so on edge for weeks – because of financial concerns, complex bureaucracy to sort out, and other personal issues – that now that things are finally less stressful, my brain was like: "Alright, I carried you through this, but now I'm going to take a little break. Bye."

Somehow though, writing this newsletter has been a remarkably procrastination-free space so far – in large part thanks to the encouraging feedback I'm receiving from you. So: thank you + keep it coming!

Tell me: do you procrastinate too? What helps you fight back? What should I read or listen to? (One of the few things that helped me a little last week was this podcast.)

Anyways, let's get down to business: here are the 7 links I want to share this week to introduce you to some great people, resources, and organisations that make me feel hopeful that a better, more people-centric and sustainable journalism is possible. I hope they'll do the same for you. 📚

See you next week! 👋

P.S.: If you're going to be in Perugia next week at the International Journalism Festival – or if you're planning to follow the live-stream online – keep scrolling after the 7 links to read about the 7 (of course) sessions I'm most looking forward to.

"Many editorial teams notice a tension between the mission of a particular title and how the title’s success is determined. [...] This is largely because many success metrics are based on (individual) audience data: [...] These say something about how people have consumed the content, but often say little about its relevance to society." This is the problem that led the Dutch public broadcaster 🧩 NPO to develop the 'Public Value Method', a framework that editors and management can use to make editorial and strategic choices with the goal of serving both individual and societal needs.

🧞Karlijn Goossen, Journalism 360 coordinator at NPO: "Redefining the value of journalism – and measuring it meaningfully – is not just about implementing a tool. It requires editorial leaders to rethink what success looks like, to invest in newsroom culture and reflection, and to support their teams in learning and evolving."

[Coming to Perugia? Join us on Thursday, 10 April, to learn more about the Public Value Method!]

You might remember how surprised I was last week to realise I had not yet mentioned in this newsletter 🧩 Il Post, an Italian online media I love and support as a paying member. Il Post is special, and this interview with director 🧞Luca Sofri explains why pretty well: “The things that worked most were our community and the trust we built in time… We had a lot of readers that had been telling us for a long time that they wanted to help, and that they wanted to finance Il Post.” As one of those readers, I can confirm this to be true. And the numbers don't lie: just six years after launching a membership programme, 75% of Il Post's revenue comes from its members.

I don't often include articles about AI in this newsletter – because, as I wrote one year ago, it's not about AI. But sometimes I'm happy to make an exception, and this is one of those times: 🧩 Scroll, an Indian digital news publication founded in 2014, is using generative AI to better meet the needs of its users. They are building an interface that allow users to control how much detail they want to know about a story – and that the newsroom can use to convert articles into other formats, such as videos or interactive tools like a calculator that helps readers understand what an update to the federal budget means for their savings.

🧞Sannuta Raghu, who leads Scroll's AI lab, explains: “The plan is to build a system where if you put in an article, it decides what the best format could be and spits it out at the other side, depending on understanding context and understanding the type of story. I don’t think we are there yet, but ideally what we want to do is to take a particular story and turn it into any of these formats at the push of a button.”

💡BONUS: Sannuta, who is a founding member of News Alchemists and a fellow at the Reuters Institute, went viral on LinkedIn a few days ago, when she shared a Python for Journalists custom GPT that she created for her classmates. Check it out!

Meet 🧩 El Surti, an innovative news organisation from Paraguay that produces some of the most creative, impactful, and visually stunning journalism out there – all while putting the audience at the centre of everything they do: "El Surti’s team holds regular meetings with audience members to receive input about current research topics, share recent findings, and discuss issues that the team may investigate in the future." The meetings are called mingas, "a Quechua Indigenous word that refers to assemblies in which people carry out communally beneficial work."

An audience member quoted in the story says that the relationship between El Surti’s journalists and its audience strengthens trust in their reporting: “This is a totally different approach from traditional media, which throws a headline at you and you’re supposed to believe it. With the kind of activities El Surti conducts, we participate in an investigation process. We’re not just listened to, but actually working and contributing.” I love it.

"We’ve learned that bridging the gap between editorial and product teams takes more than alignment meetings and shared goals. It requires a role that understands both worlds—a role that speaks the language of editors while thinking in product principles. Enter the Editorial Product Manager." Great post by 🧞Alban Mazrekaj, reflecting on how to translate the needs of journalists into product solutions, aligning newsroom workflows and audience-driven strategies while preserving editorial independence.

Being someone who tends to be overly cautious in expressing strong opinions, I enjoy a good hot take when I see one. Whether you agree or not with 🧞Sipho Kings – co-founder and publisher of 🧩 The Continent – this post and the discussion that developed in the comments offer useful food for thought on the role analytics play in informing editorial decisions. (A good complement to the Public Value Method shared above.)

How publishers are driving audience growth and managing audience data in 2025. Excellent report by 🧩 The Rebooting.

More links? 📚 Check out the previous editions

7 sessions I recommend following in Perugia 🇮🇹

  1. In an age of AI, voice is the ultimate currency (Thursday at 2pm)
  2. At the cutting edge of local news: hear from the innovators making things work (Thursday at 4pm)
  3. The impact/activism question, as seen from different parts of the globe (Friday at 9:30am)
  4. Unplugging to reconnect: creating premium offline experiences to recharge membership (Friday at 2pm)
  5. What is the impact of journalism and how to measure it? (Friday at 3pm)
  6. Product is for everyone: challenges and lessons from small and local news in operationalizing the audience-centric mindset (Saturday at 4pm)
  7. Mistakes, setbacks and unfulfilled expectations: an honest f*ck-up session (Saturday at 5pm)

What is this newsletter?

The relationship between journalism and the people it aims to serve is broken. But we can heal it if we learn to put audiences and communities at the centre of everything we do. The News Alchemists newsletter wants to help you to do just that.

Every week I share seven links to give you some hope and to introduce you to the many smart, kind, and courageous people (🧞) who strive every day to use journalism as a force for good in society – and to the organisations (🧩) that show us that a different journalism is possible, and profitable.

To respond to this newsletter, just hit reply. I love hearing from you and reading your questions, comments, and suggestions.

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Published by:

Mattia Peretti

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