Anoop Kumar

As web analytics become increasingly common in newsrooms worldwide, it is imperative to understand how they are employed to meet news organizations’ journalistic and business goals. This study examines the evolution and applications of web analytics in newsrooms through a comprehensive analysis of relevant literature. It situates the rise of web analytics in the larger historical, social, and financial context. It explores the strategies news organizations adopt to integrate web analytics in news production. After discussing the impact of analytics on news production, the project juxtaposes the pessimistic ethical concerns—primarily the prediction of market logic uprooting journalistic logic—surrounding the use of web analytics in newsrooms with ground realities. Finally, in view of the analysis, we reflect on the ethical concerns against analytics, the state of editorial autonomy in newsrooms, the implications of newly empowered audience for news ecosystem, and conclude with a practical view of analytics in newsrooms.