A key performance indicator for journalists: The value of systems thinking for the field

Legacy approaches to journalism education, formulated before computing and the Internet, focus on the democratising service outputs of the profession in promoting discussion, public scrutiny, commerce and entertainment. This focus has been at the cost of a reduced emphasis on the process of producing and distributing journalism, the expertise for which has largely been relinquished to engineers. This has made journalists vulnerable to economic variables and reduced their capacity to create and capture value in their markets in an agile manner. However, since the early 2000s, broadband has allowed and then required journalists and journalism educators to regain production and distribution expertise and to include systems thinking in curriculum areas. This article discusses the economic implications of this and the expected impacts on journalism practice and commercial funding. The article concludes that a 'key performance indicator' for journalists is now the ability to optimise where and how a digital file of text, audio, video or other computer code is placed on any relevant computer network.