Amy Pyle, Cole Goins, Aaron Glantz and Lindsay Green-Barber of The Center for Investigative Reporting demonstrate how their veterans coverage has provoked change.

1. Amy Pyle, Senior Editor
Aaron Glantz, Reporter
Cole Goins, Distribution & Engagement Mgr.
Lindsay Green-Barber, Ph.D.,
Media Impact Analyst, ACLS Public Fellow
#DissectionD

2. Story 1: The VA backlog
#DissectionD

3. Response
● Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans
of America issues news release
● Newspaper Editorials (NY
Times, LA Times)
● The Daily Show picks up cause,
cites CIR in “Red Tape Diaries”
● VA Secretary Shinseki gives first
interview in four years
#DissectionD

4. Congress intervenes
● 67 Senators write to Obama
● 160 members of the House of
Representatives write to Obama
#DissectionD

5. Data App 1: Backlog
• Backlog API came
out two months
after story broke
• Required a lot of
hand-to-hand
outreach
• Only track visits
#DissectionD

6. Text analysis
Data set: Presidential speeches that include
the words “veteran” and “backlog”
22 total, 17 relevant
#DissectionD

7. Findings
2009
3 instances
1 military
Funding
Tech
2010
7 instances
2 military
Progress
Funding
Tech
2011
1 instance
1 military
Increase
Funding
Tech
2012
2 instances
2 military
Funding
Tech
Attack
2013
2 instances
2 military
Attack
Progress
#DissectionD

8. Obama responds
#DissectionD
Five months after
our story ran:
“Finally the backlog is
shrinking. In the last
five months alone, it’s
down nearly 20%.”
- August 2013

9. Story 2: Backlog drops
#DissectionD

10. Story 3: Opiates
#DissectionD

11. Data app 2: Opiates
• “How to” guide
published with API
• Analytics at level of
event
• Localized stories for
regions with highest
prescription levels
#DissectionD

12. Localized coverage by CIR
#DissectionD

13. ABC News partnership
#DissectionD

14. Response
• Two congressional hearings
• New non-narcotic pain
therapies being rolled out
across the country
• 20,000 fewer veterans on
opiates
#DissectionD

15. Challenges in Impact Analysis
• Lack of standards
• Question of engagement
• Overabundance of online analytics
• Offline activity
#DissectionD

16. Phase 1: Needs Assessment
• Definition of Impact
• Conceptualization of Impact
• Method for tracking Impact
• Method for comparing across stories and
platforms
• Community building
#DissectionD

17. Impact = change in the status quo as a result of
a direct intervention, be it a text article, live
event, or radio or TV program.
Conceptualization
Macro
Meso
Micro
#DissectionD

18. Reach
Impact
After the story breaks
#DissectionD

19. Internal communication
• Weekly newsletter
• Blog posts
• Outcome Reports
#DissectionD

20. Next steps
• Data
• Testing & analysis
• Communications
• Community of practice
#DissectionD

21. Impact assessment methodology
• Identify outcomes
Macro - government response, change in policy
Meso - increased conversation around issues
Micro - increased awareness
• Identify processes
Text analysis (human and automated)
#DissectionD

22. Targeted distribution + Organic pickup
#DissectionD

23. Data apps traffic
• Bumps not when stories published,
especially for Backlog
• Reveal Radio single largest driver of traffic
to any data app on CIR’s site
• Alabama Media Group’s share of the app
(al.com) resulted in a wave of traffic
#DissectionD

24. Text analysis (Wordseer)
#DissectionD

25. Takeaways
• Partnerships can help a story be localized
meaningfully
• Reach is more than distribution through
media
• Public discourse around an issue can be
measured
• Impact is a (long) process
#DissectionD

26. Questions?
Aaron Glantz: aglantz@cironline.org
Lindsay Green-Barber: lgreenbarber@cironline.org
Cole Goins: cgoins@cironline.org
Amy Pyle: apyle@cironline.org
#DissectionD