The audacity of planning for impact
Technology has given rise to some of the best investigative reporting the industry has ever seen, enabling an ease of collaboration between outlets that was unthinkable before the digital age.20 At the same time, the concentration of technological power – coupled with a rise in autocratic governance – has produced existential challenges for journalism, including declining referral traffic and the increasing ability of powerful actors to evade accountability.²¹
A content-centric approach to journalism does little to overcome these mounting limitations. Change-Centric Journalism proposes transforming how we conceive our mission by rejecting the long-held notion that publication is the finish line of our work. This may have held merit before the internet diluted our power to have an agenda-setting impact.
Today, putting the story as the unit at the centre of all our efforts risks missing other equally important areas of work to meet the information needs of audiences, which could otherwise increase the impact potential.
In a content-driven approach, when stories fail to draw traffic, newsrooms often blame a lack of attention and scramble to produce more. The result is burnout, abandoned reporting, and a deepening sense of futility.
Change-Centric Journalism reorients publishing as only one part of a larger process to achieve impact. Newsrooms prioritise staying on the story because there is a shared understanding that change requires time. They proactively seek opportunities to facilitate it, which may even involve delaying the publication step to coincide with other agenda-setting moments. Grace Murray, impact producer at The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, calls these opportunities “pressure points”.
“Is there a piece of legislation that is coming through? Is there a high-level event like a G7 or a climate negotiation or a New York Climate action week? We try to get that planning in early on to have stories out ahead of these calendar events,” she explained in an interview for this project.
The shift toward impact also discourages the instinct to increase output or test formats without asking: what outcomes are we working toward? By anchoring decisions in purpose, newsrooms regain a sense of orientation and, with it, renewed commitment and motivation.
Embracing impact starts at the planning stage. Some newsrooms now embed impact planning and design in their editorial processes. At Lighthouse Reports, for example, they have built a template to organise this work.²²
It’s planning that drives reporting. It’s planning that drives audience engagement and defines the outcomes that we are striving for […] such as changing narratives, changing law, changing attitudes.”– Ariadne Papagapitos, impact director at Lighthouse Reports
Similarly, the Pulitzer Center uses a theory of change approach with its partners, according to Flora Pereira, chief of Education and Engagement.²³ This helps identify target audiences and distinguish between outputs, short-term outcomes, and long-term impact.
²⁰ International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. (2016). The Panama Papers. About the investigation. Retrieved from https://www.icij.org/investigations/panama-papers/about-the-investigation/
²¹ Reuters Institute. (2024). What do we know about the rise of alternative voices and news influencers in social and video networks? Retrieved from https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2024/rise-alternative-voices-and-news-influencers-social-and-video-networks
²² International Journalism Festival. (2025). What is the impact of journalism and how to measure it? Retrieved from https://www.journalismfestival.com/programme/2025/what-is-the-impact-of-journalism-and-how-to-measure-it
²³ Ibid.