We asked news professionals about how they pick digital tools. Here’s what they said.

Before launching News Media Help Desk, we circulated a 5-question survey to people working in the news industry who were interested in the resource we were building. The survey was the first of many we’ll conduct, as we want to ensure the Help Desk is always responding to the needs of local news publishers.

The pre-launch survey was open for about three months (August through early December in 2025). It was focused on news organizations’ digital tool satisfaction and selection.

We learned that few people are “extremely satisfied” with the digital tools being used at their news organizations. And we were surprised to see that security — more often than not — ranks last in importance among internal considerations for tool selection.

Of the 24 responses we received, the majority indicated they work in editorial or held executive-level roles at their news organizations. Ten of the respondents selected multiple categories when asked in what area they work.

This article will highlight some of the higher-level takeaways from the responses and tease our next survey. Here’s a look at what we learned from our first survey: 

Satisfaction with current tools

Few of those who answered (8.3%) said they were “extremely satisfied” with their news organization’s digital tools. Most people answered (37.5%) that they were only “slightly satisfied” with the digital tools of their organization. Those who were “moderately satisfied” made up 25%.

In writing this question, we hoped to check our assumption that news organizations aren’t happy with the tools they are using. These responses are in line with what we expected to see.

Reasons for not being satisfied with tools can range from difficulty for staff to use them to audience habits changing, making the current tools a poor fit. There’s also the possibility that the cost outweighs the benefits of using a tool. We didn’t ask about the reasons for lack of satisfaction in this survey, but we plan to in the future.

Priorities in tool selection

We wanted to know the first question people in journalism ask when considering a new digital tool. For this, we offered five options, one of which let respondents type in their own question. 

The majority of responses overwhelmingly picked two questions: “How is it better than what we already use?” and “How much does it cost?” Nearly 42% of respondents chose the former and 37.5% the latter. 

We also asked people to rank six internal considerations for tool selection. Based on the responses, the most (1) to least (6) important considerations were: 

1. Ease of use
2. Cost of tool
3. Time savings for users
4. Integration with current CMS
5. Integration with other internal tools
6. Security (encryption, multi-factor login, SSO)

For the most part, this aligns with what we expected to see from this survey question. Except that we assumed security would be ranked higher. 

We plan to get more feedback from you concerning security in a later survey. 

What’s working now?

Our final survey question was open-ended and asked, “What digital tools are you or your organization using that you would recommend to another person in the news industry?”

Full disclosure, we will always ask this question in our surveys for two reasons. First, it may be helpful for us to measure change and spot trends. Second, this question may illuminate tools for us that are well-suited for the news business and should be included in the Scorecard as we continue to build out the database. In fact, a number of tools we are currently researching for the Scorecard came from answers to this question from the first survey.

This time around, the most mentioned categories were content management systems and customer relationship management tools. Since these are both core to the digital news business tech stack — and are likely always being monitored by technology and product teams — you can expect to see these categories of tools added to the Scorecard in the coming months. 

Our next survey

For our next short survey, we’re digging into artificial intelligence and tool selection.  

Amid a time when AI is drastically changing the news business landscape and forcing newsrooms to think differently about how to reach readers online, we wonder if you trust the tools incorporating this new technology. 

That survey is live now if you’d like to take a few minutes to give your input. 

If AI isn’t on your mind, reach out to us to let us know what issues you’re thinking about so we can help.

We will always want to hear from you, our audience, because the Help Desk needs to always adapt and be responsive to current digital challenges of news organizations. So, whether you fill out our short surveys, send us coverage ideas via our content idea pitch form or just send us an email, we look forward to hearing from you.

• Category: Help Desk Survey
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