Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

Authors: Lucas Graves & John Kelly
Contributor: Marissa Gluck

Click here for full report

Click here for executive summary

Dear Readers,

We are proud to present to you the first article of research from the Tow Center for Digital Journalism, which is launching this fall at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

In this report, our researchers dig deeply into the many traffic metrics that confront online news sites, and in the process, they provide insight into how that cacophony of numbers affects everything from advertising models to editorial decisions.

You'll notice that the authors also take an unusual additional step at the end of the report: They offer recommendations on how and why the Tow Center could play a role in explaining these metrics and helping the industry deal with them.

We think it is most appropriate, given the nature of the Internet, that we openly solicit your thoughts about how to shape some of the research goals of the Tow Center. And so we invite you to read this report, provide feedback on the findings, and give us your ideas about what research areas would be most valuable for the Center to pursue. You can leave comments on the accompanying article on the Columbia Journalism Review, www.cjr.org/reports/traffic_jam.php, or write us at our email addresses below.

We also would like to thank Mary Graham, a member of the Journalism School's Board of Visitors, whose generosity enabled the Tow Center to produce this report.

Thank you, and we look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Bill Grueskin
Dean of Academic Affairs
Columbia School of Journalism
bgrueskin@columbia.edu

Emily Bell
Director, Tow Center for Digital Journalism
Columbia School of Journalism
eb2740@columbia.edu