🔶 #75: How to create an impact culture in your newsroom

Hello, and welcome back to the News Alchemists newsletter!

I finally got around to writing that article about impact that I've been teasing for a couple of weeks – and if I may say so myself: It's pretty good.

So here it is, entirely inside this email, for your eyes only before anyone else gets to read it too. (But you can share it, of course. Actually, I hope you will.)

Regular serving of seven hope-full links resumes next week. See you then! 👋

How to create an impact culture in your newsroom

If you work in or around newsrooms, you’ve probably felt this tension: we want our journalism to make a difference, but the moment the word “impact” gets brought up in an editorial meeting, the room takes on an air of nervousness.

Often reporters worry that chasing impact means crossing a line into activism, or compromising their independence. Editors worry that documenting impact is just another piece of administrative paperwork being added to their already packed days.

The takeaway is not that journalists don’t care about impact. It’s just that most newsrooms lack an impact culture: the internal habits and frameworks that make impact feel like a natural part of the daily workflow rather than an extra burden.

Last week, during an online meet-up I co-hosted with the Impact Network and media campaigner Eliz Mizon, a global group of media innovators from organisations like OCCRP, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, The Examination, El Surtidor, and many others gathered to talk about exactly how to address this friction. 

What emerged was a collection of practical ideas you can start using in your work right away.