Newsroom audit - International Justice Mission (IJM)

Newsroom audit

This is an audit of the International Justice Mission’s (IJM) newsroom. The site is located at http://news.ijm.org/?_ga=1.3853424.1321612072.1490028756.

Access to the site

There are two simple and easy ways to access IJM’s newsroom. The first is by scrolling to the bottom of the screen. At the bottom of the screen are options such as Careers, Annual Reports, Get Involved, Resources, Privacy Policy, Donor Policy, Newsroom followed by Contact Us. The other way to access the newsroom is by the drop-down menu at the top left corner of the screen. The section title is “Get to Know Us.” Under this section are Financials, Leadership, News, Speakers and Studies.

IJM’s newsroom can be accessed through the url above, as well as by using www.news.ijm.org. This url is short and simple making it user friendly. In addition, www.IJM.org/news will take users to a site that does not appear to be used by the organization any longer because it has not been updated since November 2015.

Content featured at the site

There is a lot of content on the site. It has the Media Library, contact information, social media links, videos, media resources, Tweets and the company’s Facebook page featured on the left side of the page. The main portion of the newsroom page has the latest news, press releases, blogs, opinion/editorials and a media section for stories about the organization.

While there is a lot of information on this page, it does not look too crowded. It is viewable in 8 screens, which is excessive. This can be eliminated by using a drop-down menu instead of having a preview of each section on the front news page.

The news stories are categorized into recent stories, Other News, Press Releases, Blogs, Opinion Editorials and In the Media. These are all featured on the Newsroom page. Each story has a photo with a teaser of the story and the date it was published to the right. While most of the “Other News” posts are over six months old, it looks like IJM tries to update part of the Newsroom at least once a month. The section titled “Blog” has not been updated since June 28, 2016 and was updated only twice last year compared to the 25 times it was updated in 2015. The latest press releases were posted in July 19, 2016 and Aug. 6, 2016. The Opinion Editorials only have six posts total and has not been updated since January 2015.

The writing is concise but varies in length from story to story. The writing is semi-objective and journalistic. Some news stories tell the stories of those rescued from human trafficking while others update IJM’s readers on the trials of accused abusers. The writing is not always objective and uses phrases like “justice was served” when talking about the accused abusers. The text is legible and has the same background for all their pages, which is a plain white background. The information is comprehensive. All blogs have the option to share on Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook on the upper right side of each blog page.

Photography and graphic downloads at the site

IJM offer several graphics for download under their Media Library link however most are not recent. Under this tab are photographs, videos and downloads. Under downloads are newsletters, media kits and fact sheets.

Each photograph has a description and has the option to download, view the source and share on a variety of social media sites. The videos also have descriptions and the option to share on social media sites; however, they do not have the option to download. The various downloads do have the option to download as well as share.

Audio and/or video material at the site

As stated, there is a video tab under the Media Library. There is no way to download these videos but there is an option to share on various social media sites. The videos are posted on Youtube and do have some that have been recently uploaded.

Elements that affect readership through the site

IJM encourages readership by providing social media links and sharing options on every page. This allows readers the ability to share the blogs/videos/etc. with ease. The individual press releases do not state who wrote them or their contact information, but do show the senior media relations manager’s contact information, which is appears on every news page.

Navigation issues of the site

The only navigation issue is through their Instagram page. IJM has switched Instagram accounts since they made the website and have not updated since. This is not a huge issue; however, the linked Instagram account has not been updated in over two years and only has one post saying the name of the new page.

Overall evaluation of the site

The site looks organized and offers all of their post to be shared on social media. The site is not totally ADA compliant because it does not provide transcripts of the videos. It is easy to read and to find things. The link for Instagram does need to be fix and the former Instagram account should be deleted.

Content is not consistently coming out and some of the sections have not been updated in over two years. The Media Library is also not updated a lot. The latest photo was from 2014 and most of the downloads are from 2015 or before. In addition, the videos were not downloadable. The press releases do not have any media attached to them or any contact information for the writer of the release. Another issue is that it is all on one page. This could be fixed by providing a drop-down menu or eliminating the sections that have not been updated in over a year.