calls the shots Cli kbait Sean Meleady looks at how page view targets are damaging journalism A
television screen is on in the newsroom, visible to all journalists. However, it isn’t tuned to the BBC, Sky News, ITV or even the publication’s website. Rather, it’s tuned into live page view updates – a real-time league table showing
how many views individual articles have received, and which journalists are at the top of the league table and those lower down who may be next out the door. While it’s natural that media organisations and journalists
want to engage with and attract as many readers as possible, online page view targets are driven by a desire for increased revenue. With the long-term decline in print sales, page views are now seen as a key factor in determining how much revenue news outlets can generate from digital advertising. Martin Shipton, chair of the South Wales NUJ branch, argues
that page view targets are a result of struggles media companies have had in transitioning from a predominantly print to a digital media landscape, particularly with the decline of local advertising. “Essentially, what happened is that they decided, without a business model, without having thought about it, just to put all their content free online and think about a business model afterwards and, of course, it didn’t work because people became used to getting information free of charge. “They thought there would be a seamless transformation, if
you like, from newspapers to online and in what they could earn in revenue terms, but that was a complete nonsense. “So, because they can’t get the local advertising, what they do
is what’s called programmatic advertising, where they get a fraction of a penny for each page view, and you’ve got to get a massive number of views to get a revenue of any real value.” Chris Morley, NUJ Northern and Midlands senior organiser, agrees that page view targets have not led to the significant rise in digital advertising needed to offset the decline in print revenues: “The problem has always been the losses in print have been in pounds while the gains in digital have been pennies.”
Incentives not worth the effort Newsquest, which owns The Northern Echo, The Argus and The National, is particularly keen on page view targets. In 2019, it introduced a bonus scheme for journalists who generate 500,000 page views a month on average each quarter. In 2022,
14 | theJournalist 72%
72 per cent of Newsquest staff felt that its page view targets were not realistic
Newsquest admitted that only around 200 of its reporters had qualified for the bonus. A 2022 NUJ survey revealed that 72 per cent of Newsquest staff felt that its page view targets were not realistic, and 62 per cent had not received a bonus in 2021. Of those who had received a bonus, only 9 per cent received payment in all four quarters. Four out of five employees said they had suffered from stress because of the targets, while 55 per cent said that they were actively looking for a job outside Newsquest. This figure is hardly surprising and not just because of the pressurised environment – 69 per cent of staff earned less than £30,000. Morley says: “There has been an incentive model used in
Newsquest for a number of years, but we have had consistent feedback from members that it is largely ignored because it is ‘one size fits all’ so journalists in smaller population centres are never likely to meet the quarterly targets to trigger any payment so is not worth the effort.” Shipton, who undertakes casework for the NUJ, notes that page view targets have led to bullying. “I’ve dealt with a number of cases from Newsquest where people have been very seriously bullied, and they are put on this personal improvement plan where they are set unattainable targets, and then, very soon afterwards, they are taken through disciplinary action and, within a short period of time, they’ll be out. The stress that comes about for the individuals is appalling. “What tends to happen is that people who, let’s face it, are quite badly paid are put under immense pressure to meet these targets and their lives will be made a misery.”
Consequences ‘not punitive’ In March 2022, Reach, which owns 100 regional and national titles, introduced its accelerated personal development pilot scheme. This encouraged journalists at regional titles to get between 80,000 and 850,000 page views per month. According to an internal Reach document, journalists who fell below half their benchmark figure would be expected to increase their page view figures by 40 per cent by July 2022 and 70 per cent by the end of 2022. The document states ‘consequences’ for failing to meet the targets would ‘depend on the individual circumstances’ – but the scheme was ‘not designed to be punitive’. Last year, then Reach boss Jim Mullen explained to staff: “I
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